268 NAVIN ON THE HORSE. 



There are some smiths who know nothing at all of the anat- 

 omy of the foot, and who are too bigoted to learn any thing, 

 who are wedded to some one particular form of shoe, and which 

 they bring all feet to fit, in a icay.; v/ith the same consistency 

 and equal reason of the king who made a box of right length 

 for himself, and determined that all his subjects should be made 

 to fit it — those too short, to be stretched, and those too long, to 

 be cut ofi'. 



I will state some of the errors which are most common among 

 these one-idead men. They make all shoes the same shape, or 

 form ; give the same concavity or bevel on the side of the web 

 next to the foot; make the web of all the same width; make 

 all the same weight and the same length; form the calkings, if 

 any are used, the same for every horse, or only form a calk on 

 one side of the shoe ; use nails in all cases of the same strength ; 

 direct the nails the same for all kinds of w^ork ; nail too near 

 the heels ; make the fullering, or groove for the nail-heads to 

 rest in, too far from the outer edge of the shoe; pare the crust, 

 if they pare it at all, the same on both sides, but generally pare 

 neither side enough ; shorten all toes alike ; do not pare the 

 sole at all ; they tear the old shoe off instead of drawing the 

 nails, and thus injure the hoof; they fit the shoe entirely by 

 burning ; they cut down, or even cut awaj^, the bars ; cut down 

 the frog ; they cut away the inside of the crust in the vain 

 effort to prevent interfering; and often go to the useless trouble 

 of putting on clips, wdiich are not only of no advantage, but 

 positively injurious. 



I shall now give in full the best practice to pursue in shoe- 

 ing, considering each princii:)le to be borne in mind separately. 



First, the shoe must agree with the natural shape of the foot. 

 This is a proposition that common sense ought to teach any 

 man is correct, but it does not seem to do so in all cases. 

 Many smiths, as before observed, adhere to a particular form 

 of shoe, and endeavor to bring all feet to it. It is evident to 

 any one, that if the hoof is long and narrow, the quarters but 

 very little flaring, which is called a sta2:)le hoof, it requires a 



