40 THE SHOEING OP HORSES. 



worthy of notice. The first essential towards the cure of a sprain, 

 whether severe or not, is rest to the part injured ; and the shoe in 

 question is the best and most simple mechanical appliance we 

 possess for the purpose. 



Plate XIV. 



Shoe for Pumiced Feet, or Box Seated Shoe. — This is a form 

 of shoe difficult to make, and requires a workman to undertake the 

 task. When properly made, tt should have a seatiitg woi'-ked perfectly 

 level from toe to heel, for the wall of the foot to rest securely and easily 

 upon; and between the inner border or inner rim, of the seating, and 

 the inner rim of the web of the shoe is a deep hollow space or conca- 

 vity, of a capacity and extent proportioned to the convexity of the foot 

 to which it may be necessary to secure such a shoe. In some cases this 

 concavity of the shoe may be required to be one inch or more in 

 depth at its deepest part, to receive the convex sole and contain it 

 in a way it may not suffer from pressure. With this form of shoe 

 skilfully applied many horses, otherwise incapacitated for work, 

 may be made to travel and work with comfort; but unless the shoe 

 be properly made, the evils sought to be remedied by its use will 

 in all probability be aggravated. Few country farriers understand 

 how to make it, and when necessity compels them to try, instead 

 of the shoe described, they produce one which is simply bevelled 

 upon the foot surface over the whole web, or from the outer to the 

 inner rim of the shoe, and the consequence is, when such a shoe 

 is nailed to a pumiced foot, the evils sought to be remedied 

 are slowly but surely increased, so long as such a piece of ill- 



