Horseshoeing. 283 



small degrees to half its original size. Now if, instead of per- 

 sisting in this gradual work of destruction, he would only leave 

 the frog alone, and never touch it with a knife, the rags in due 

 time would entirely disappear, and the frog become covered by 

 a coating of newly secreted horn. The horn of the frog, when 

 left to itself, is always undergoing a process of exfoliation and 

 reproduction. The exfoliation for the most part occurs in small 

 particles, resembling the dust which adheres to Turkey figs ; but 

 at other times the whole surface of the frog will exfoliate in a 

 mass, leaving a smaller, but still perfect, frog beneath, covered 

 with sound horn. The small particles of exfoliated horn may 

 best be seen in the feet of horses shod with leather, where the 

 artificial covering has prevented their escape ; and so little is 

 this natural process of exfoliation understood by horse-masters in 

 general, that 1 have frequently had my attention gravely directed 

 to the accumulation of these particles, as unmistakable evidence 

 of the leather having rotted the frog. 



The shoe should be neither too light, nor too narrow in the 

 web : light shoes are apt to bend before they are half-worn out, 

 and narrow-webbed shoes expose the sole and frog to unnecessary 

 injury from stones in the road. Every fore-shoe should be more 

 or less seated on the foot-surface, to prevent it pressing on and 

 bruising the sole ; but a perfectly flat surface should be preserved 

 around the edge of the foot-surface of the shoe from heel to heel 

 for the crust to rest upon. The amount of seating to be em- 

 ployed must be determined by the description of foot to be shod ; 

 for instance, a broad foot, with a flat sole and weak horn, will 

 require a wide web, considerably seated, to prevent it coming in 

 contact with the sole and bruising it ; but a narrow foot, with an 

 arched sole and strong horn, will require less width of web and 

 less seating, otherwise the dirt and grit of the road would be- 

 come impacted between the shoe and the sole, and cause as much 

 pressure and injury as the iron would have done. 



The safest guide to the proper amount of seating is to apply 

 the shoe to the foot, and observe whether there is room for a picker 

 to pass freely between the shoe and the sole ; if there should not 

 be sufficient space for a free passage all round the shoe the seating 

 must be increased ; and if there should be more than is necessary, 

 it must be diminislied. The smith, having carefully prepared the 

 foot, and selected a shoe with a proper amount of seating for it, 

 has next to cut off the heels, and fit the shoe to the foot ; and he 

 must always bear in mind, that fitting the shoe to the foot does 

 not mean fitting the foot to the shoe — an error that smiths are 

 prone to fall into, 



I have very frequently had occasion to remind a smith, that he 

 was saving himself trouble at the expense of the horse by accom:- 



