Rational Horse Shoeing and Wagon Making
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with rules, tables, recipes, etc., useful to
manufactures, blacksmiths, machinists,
well-drillers, engineers, liverymen,
horse-shoers, farmers, wagon-makers,
mechanics, amateurs and all others who have
occasion to perform the work for which this
book is primarily intended.
Kneesprung is the result of disease that sometimes is
brought about by bad shoeing. In a healthy leg the center of
gravity is down through the center of the leg and out at the
heels. This is changed in a case of knee sprung legs, giving the
legs a bowed appearance. This trouble always comes on
gradually; in some cases it will stop and never get worse, while
in others it will keep on until it renders the horse useless. A
horse with straight legs will sleep standing, but a knuckler
cannot; he will fall as soon as he goes to sleep, on account of
the center of gravity being thrown on a line forward of the
suspensory ligaments. The cause of this trouble is sprain or
injury to the back tendons of the legs; soreness of the feet,
shins or joints. In old cases nothing can be done but just to
relieve the strain a little by shoeing with a long shoe and high
heel calks, with no toe calk. In cases not more than three
months old clip the hair off the back tendons when there is any
soreness, and shower them with cold water several times a day
CONTRACTION
Contraction is in itself no original disease, except in a few cases. It is mostly the effect of some disease. Contraction
follows sprains of the tendons, corns, founder and navicular disease. When contraction is the result of a long-standing
disease of the foot or leg it will be in only one of the feet, because the horse will rest the affected leg and stand most
of the time on the healthy leg; thus the healthy foot receives more pressure than the diseased, and is spread out
more; the foot becomes much uneven-they don't look like mates. This kind of contraction is generally the result of
some chronic disease, but in most cases contraction is the result of shoeing and artificial living. Before the colt is shod
his hoofs are large and open-heeled, the quarters are spread out wide, and the foot on the under side is shaped like
a saucer. The reason of the colt's foot being so large is that he has been running on the green and moist turf, without
shoes, and the feet have in walking in mud and dampness gathered so much moisture that they are growing and
spreading at every step. This is changed when the colt is shod and put on hard roads, or taken from the pasture and
put on hard floors where the feet become hard and dried up. A strong high heeled foot is predisposed to contraction,
white a low heeled flat foot is seldom afflicted with this trouble.
