THE SHOEING OF HORSES. 39 



T. Make the shoe as light as compatible with the weight and 

 strength of the horse and the foot to which it may be 

 necessary to affix it. 



2. Make it strong, and all its parts secure. 



3. Make the heel (the part raised) to slant a little backward, 



as shown in the plate ; this slant of the heel prevents the 

 foot from being suddenly as it were jumped up, and thus 

 throwing the foot into a painful position. By slanting 

 the heel of the shoe backward, the heel of the foot is 

 raised easily and gradually, and so maintained without 

 pain or inconvenience to the patient. The slanting of 

 the heel is attended with the necessity of causing this 

 part to be made a little longer in order to obtain the 

 desired altitude of the heel. It is clear the more the heel 

 of the shoe is slanted backward, the lower the heel of 

 the foot will become ; in most cases the altitude given to 

 the heel of the shoe should be from one and a half to 

 two inches ; the higher it may be necessary to raise the 

 heel, the longer the shoe will have to be made from toe 

 to heel, in order to give the gradual slant to the foot. 



One peculiar but foolish prejudice which frequently operates 

 against the use of the high-heeled shoe is this : ignorant people 

 believe that by securing such a shoe to the foot of a lame limb, it 

 will cause the muscles and tendons of the limb to grow shorter — 

 an idea so absurd in its nature, that unless we heard it repeated 

 so frequently and vehemently as we do, we should not deem it 



