On the education and training of the veterinary pupil : the present state of veterinary medicine and veterinary literature : and on the art of horseshoeing and its relation to the veterinary profession / by W. Haycock.

  • Haycock, William.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the education and training of the veterinary pupil : the present state of veterinary medicine and veterinary literature : and on the art of horseshoeing and its relation to the veterinary profession / by W. Haycock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    practical skill is required in the treatment of injuries and maladies confined to the feet, and arising from causes of a very simple nature, such as undue pressure of the shoe upon the heels and quarters of feet, especially such as are flat and associated with low weak heels; lodgment of nail-stumpa in the wall of the foot, causing mischief by undue pressure; stabs and pricks with nails within the sensitive tissues of the foot; placing the shoe awry; undue pressure of the nails upon the vascular laminre; undue pressure of the clips upon the toe and sides of the foot; undue tightness of the nails ; undue pressure of the shoe upon the sole of the foot, especially with flat-soled horses ; using shoes that are too heavy or that are too light and deficient of cover; breaking of shoes and pressure of the broken pieces upon the sole; violent tearing and twisting of the shoes from the feet while the horse is at work, and afterwards placing the exposed feet upon the exposed nails; treads and overreaches ; severe punctures and injuries to the coronet; punctures and injuries to the sole with broken pieces of iron, rusty nails, glass, and sharp pieces of flint or stone. Such are a few of the almost innumerable forms of injury and disease regularly presented to us in a town like Manchester. Per- haps I may be told that a veterinary surgeon is capable of treating such abnormalities without being saddled with the ownership of a shoeing-forge. Granted ; but he never will learn to treat them either with that certainty or facility he would if associated with a shoeing- forge. Associated with a shoeing-forge, where business is brisk, he is day after day in close contact with these things ; familiarity with feet, nails, and horseshoes, gradually endow the man with a new sense, which only the possession of a forge can bestow ; and bear in mind, gentlemen, it is the obtainment of this sense, the posses- sion, so to speak, of eye and brain within the fingers, which perfects the veterinary surgeon in the practice of his profession, and renders him of that high value to society and the equine creation around. I beg for a moment to direct your attention to another feature of this question. The veterinary surgeon, when stood upon ground relating to the diseases of the feet and the shoeing of horses, stands upon ground entirely his own ; here he is not indebted to the surgeon, neither can the surgeon bestow much, so that if we sepa- rate him from the shoeing-forge we are removing him, so to speak, from his own property, and placing him wholly upon ground upon which he can never do otherwise than play a subordinate part. The proper way, however, to regard this question is in its rela- ' tion to commerce, and to the health and comfort of the animal whose welfare we are met to consider. The foot of the horse is one of the most beautiful and wondrous organs the mind of man can contemplate, and the only structure at all analogous to it in ourselves is the extremity of a toe or a finger. Now, the value and importance of the horse to the commerce of the world is almost beyond calculation ; and when we reflect that this high value to commerce and the health and comfort of the