Horseshocinq. 



289 



rim of the foot-surface, somewhat after the fashion of the shoe in 

 common use for preventing cutting ; it enables the horse to with- 

 draw his shoe from stiff ground without the chance of leaving it 

 behind him, which he will inevitably do if any portion of the shoe 

 is permitted to project beyond the hoof. When the shoe has been 

 carefully fitted to the foot it must be coaled and " back-holed ;" 

 that is, the nail-holes must be opened on the foot-surface of the 

 shoe ; and in doing this care must be taken to break down the 

 outer edge of all the holes, so that the nail may pass straight 

 through the shoe without any inclination inwards, and the open- 

 ings should be made large and free, to prevent the shank of the 

 nail becoming tied in tlie hole before the head has been driven 

 fairly home. 



The shoe has then to be " filed up " preparatory to being 

 nailed to the foot ; and I may here observe, that much time and 

 labour are generally wasted in polishing portions of the shoe 

 which might very well be left alone; all that is really necessary 

 is to round off the sharp edges, remove any " burs "that may 

 project from the surface, and file the foot-surface of the heels, as 

 shown at F, in Fig, 5. Fig. 5 shows the foot-surface of a near 

 fore-shoe ; A, the clip at the toe ; B 1, the outer quarter ; B 2, 

 the inner quarter; C 1, the outer heel ; C 2, the inner heel; D, 

 the seating ; E, an even 



flat surface from heel A, 



to heel for the crust to 

 bear upon, and in which 

 the nail-holes must be 

 placed. They must 

 never be permitted to 

 encroach on the seat- 

 ing, but be always con- 

 fined to this flat sur- 

 face ; F, the ends of 

 the heels filed away in 

 a direction upwards and 

 outwards, the object be- 

 ing to prevent pressure 

 on the Irog without di- 

 minishing ihe width of 

 the web on the ground- 

 surface of the shoe. 



Fig. 6, the ground-surface of the same shoe. A, the toe turned 

 up out of the line of wear ; B 1, the outer quarter ; B 2, the 

 inner quarter ; C 1 and C 2, the heels ; with D, the web as 

 wide as at any other portion of the shoe ; E, the fuller. 

 It will be observed that the inner quarter of the shoe, marked 



