CUTTING THE HOOF. 109 



very liindermost part of the heel, just the last 

 quarter of an inch, so as to allow the heel of the 

 frog, where the cleft is, to expand, and prevent 

 the horn bending in there. Neither cut the frog 

 unless it is ragged, excepting towards the toe ; 

 and only there, if it should be hard and higher 

 than the heel.* Lastly, file till the crust and 

 bars are even, leaving the frog, if possible, the 

 eighth of an inch higher, so that it shall be just 

 within the level of the shoe. The toe should 

 always be shortened as much as it will admit of, 

 and any unevenness in the wall rasped smooth. 

 There should be room enough for the edge of a 

 knife-blade to play between the shoe and the crust 

 at the heel when on ; and the shoe at the heel 

 should extend the eighth of an inch beyond the 

 crust on the inside, as well as the outside. You 



this part is disgraceful. The English farrier calls it opening the 

 heels ; and I have seen them retrogi'ade into this most destruc- 

 tive method of cutting, a few months after losing the supervision 

 of a veterinary surgeon. The bars are the finish of the crust, 

 of harder horn than the sole, and a different shade of colour ; 

 they never run down straight, but curve, as shown at p. 39 in 

 the description of feet ; and the place for opening the heels is 

 not in the middle of the bars, where the Nolband sideways 

 scoops them half away, but opposite the heel of the shoe, behind 

 where the bar and crust join. 



* If the frog is deficient in height, after the heels have been 

 lowered, tar must be daily laid over it. If naturally too high, 

 which is not so often the case, it may be slightly pared. 



