432 TREATISE ON HORSESHOEING. 



bar and crust, and should in no part extend 

 beyond the outer edge of the crust. 



It is too often the case that the shoe is made 

 according to the smith's notions of what the 

 form of the horse's foot should be, and the foot 

 is pared, burned, and rasped until it fits the 

 shoe. Now, it should always be borne in mind 

 that the shoe is intended for the foot, and not 

 the foot for the shoe, and that it is therefore 

 peculiarly proper to make the shoe fit the nat- 

 ural form of the foot. It is impossible to have 

 the foot of a horse sound and safe, for work and 

 use, after bringing it to an unnatural figure, by 

 the use of the knife and rasp. The foot of the 

 horse being elastic, it expands to the weight of 

 the horse, in precisely the same degree, whether 

 resting upon the most open or the most con- 

 tracted shoe. Therefore, the shape of the shoe 

 cannot possibly affect the shape of the foot. 

 The form of the foot is determined by the situ- 

 ation of the nails. If the nails are placed so 

 that the inside quarters and heels are left free 

 to expand in a natural manner, no shape which 



