Volume 1

The complete farrier, and British sportsman: containing a systematic enquiry into the structure and animal economy of the horse, the causes, symptoms, and most approved methods of prevention and cure for every disease to which he is liable ... with numerous ... recipes for various diseases ... Including a faithful delineation of the various dogs used in the sports of the field, with canine pathology / Interspersed with sporting anecdotes.

Lawrence, Richard, veterinary surgeon, active 1792-1818.

Date:: [1817]

Credit: The complete farrier, and British sportsman: containing a systematic enquiry into the structure and animal economy of the horse, the causes, symptoms, and most approved methods of prevention and cure for every disease to which he is liable ... with numerous ... recipes for various diseases ... Including a faithful delineation of the various dogs used in the sports of the field, with canine pathology / Interspersed with sporting anecdotes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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4] nails to a level withit. This is called « fullering.” The French blacksmiths do not adopt this plan, but leave the surface of the shoe quite smooth and equal, and instead of the “ fuller,’ they make holes with a punch sufficiently large to bury the head of the nail, and this is certainly a better prac- tice than the other, because the “fuller” leaves two sides of the head of the nail exposed to any hard substance that the foot may strike against in going, and the nail is thereby more liable to be drawn than when its head is equally defended all round. It also leaves a greater substance of iron to the shoe, and consequently prevents its being worn away so rapidly as in the other instance. The shoe has not so neat an appearance, but that is a matter of little consequence when set in the scale against the advantages of the French method. The foregoing directions being laid down principally for shoeing a good foot, it will be necessary to point out what deviations are required in regard to the various altera- tions of form which are produced by a diseased state of the hoof. The sole acquires two very opposite alterations in its form and appearance from certain causes operating on the hoof. The one is a too great concavity or hollowness, the other a too great con- vexity or fullness of its surface. The first generally takes place where the wall of the hoof is remarkably strong and dry. In this case the heels, by being pro- tected from friction by the shoe, grow to an immoderate height, and by their compres- sion, force up the horny sole against the fleshy sole which lies immediately above it, and this produces a greater or less degree of pain, according to the quality of pressure. i, The French veterinary writers call this disease an encastelated hoof. This disease it is obvious must be increased greatly by the heat and dryness of the litter in the stable. It is also generally accompanied by corns, and running thrushes or diseased frogs, and a very evident -contraction in, the heels. This contraction, however, never takes place suddenly, as the internal parts of the foot resist it as long as possible, but the continued pressure of the quarters will ultimately produce an absorption of the sides of the coffin-bone, which is obliged in this manner to adapt itself to the diminished capacity of the hoof. In preparing a foot of this description for shoeing, the heels should be pared as low as possible, and the quarters rasped, and the same shoe may be used as has been recommended for the good foot. On the other hand, when the sole is flat or convex, a very different shoe must be applied. This alteration in the sole is sometimes produced by inflammation, or what is called fever in the feet, and very frequently by a continued series of bad shoeing. When it is the result of inflam- mation, the horse is said to be foundered and the coffin-bones sunk. This disease never admits of a cure. But when the convexity of the sole is brought on by bad shoeing only, some relief may be ob- tained by adopting a better system. As it arises in a great degree from partial pressure on the wall of the hoof by hollow webbed shoes, it requires a strict attention to their proper construction in that respect. In feet of this description, the wall is ge- nerally thin and weak. In this case the heels grow very little, comparatively with ; will

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