Horseshoewg. 281 



Previous to preparing the foot for the reception of the new 

 shoe, we must consider, first, the kind of foot we have to deal 

 with ; and next, the condition of the roads it Avill have to travel 

 upon ; for it would be manifestly improper to pare a weak flat sole 

 as much as a strong arched one, or to pare either as much when 

 the roads are hard and covered with loose stones as when they 

 are moist and even. No general rule, therefore, can be laid down 

 that would apply to all kinds of feet, or indeed to the same foot 

 at all times ; the amount of paring tlie foot is to undergo must 

 entirely depend on the above considerations. 



A strong foot with an arched sole, when the roads are in 

 good order, will require to have the toe shortened, the quar- 

 ters and heels lowered, and the sole pared, until it will yield 

 in some slight degree to very hard pressure from the thumb ; 

 but on no account should it ever be pared thin enough to 

 yield to moderate pressure : the angles formed by the crust, 

 and the bars at the heels, must be cleared out, and all the dead 

 horn removed therefrom, and the bars should be lowered nearly 

 to a level with the sole. 



A weak flat foot, on the contrary, will bear no shortening 

 of the toe, and very little paring or lowering anywhere ; the 

 heels of such feet are sure to be too low already, and the sole 

 too thin ; in fact, the less that is done to them the better 

 beyond clearinir out the dead horn from the angles at the 

 heels, and making the crust bear evenly on the shoe ; but the 

 hollow between the bars and the frog, or the frog itself, must 

 never be touched by a knife in any foot, whether it be a weak 

 one or a strong one, and as these latter directions differ so ma- 

 terially from the usual practice of smiths, 1 may perhaps be 

 expected to state my reasons for wishing to enforce them in 

 opposition to what they no doubt consider a time-honoured 

 custom ; I mean, the inveterate habit they all have of trimming 

 the frog, and opening out the heels at every shoeing ; but I think 

 I shall be able to show, that " it is a custom more honoured in 

 the breach than the observance." 



The bars are not separate and distinct portions of the hoof, 

 but simply continuations of the crust reflected or turned back at 

 each heel in the direction of the centre of the sole, where they 

 meet in a point and form a triangular space for the reception of 

 the elastic cushion, usually called the sensible frog : each of 

 these reflected portions, at its deepest part, rises about an inch 

 into the cavity of the hoof, and is connected at its upper part, 

 throughout its whole extent, on one edge with the horny sole, and 

 on the other Avith the horny frog, whereby the horny covering of 

 the foot is completed and made continuous. This doubling back 

 of the crust on each side, from the heel to the point of the frog, 



