SHOEING. i8i 



practice of flioeing is the more extraordi- 

 nary, as the very form, length, and texture 

 of the hoof will ^alv/ays afford fufficient in- 

 formation in how great a degree it will bear 

 reducStion, with the additional conlideration, 

 in point of effedl, that fhortening the toe will 

 always proportionably wide?:, and give ftrength 

 to the heeL 



Horfes faid to be '* flefliy footed," are 

 thofe whofe inner and outer fole are found 

 to be too . large in proportion to the fub- 

 fiance of the hoof that furrounds them ; or, 

 in other words, (to render it as clear as pof- 

 fible) whofe hoof is too thin at the lower 

 edge or bottorn, for the fize of the whole. 

 This may be producftive of inconvenience, 

 and requires a nicer difcrimination in the 

 mode of forming the groove in the w^eb, 

 as well as in fixing the fl:ioe; for the fpacc 

 upon which it muft be unavoidably fixed 

 (without an alternative) is fo exceedingly 

 narrow, that the greateft care and attention 

 is abfolutcly neceffary to bring the nails io 

 near the edge of the hoof, as to avoid 

 ^very probable chance of injury by too 

 great a ftricfture upon the component parts i 

 N 3 a matte 



