SHOEING. 



269 



staple shoe, that is, a shoe not much flaring at the quarters, 

 but running back nearly straight. If such a shoe is put on a 

 round hoof, the quarters will project over it, and the black- 

 smith may pare the projecting edge oif, but, in so doing, he 

 destroys a valuable part of the border of the wall which should 

 rest on the web of the shoe. 



If a round shoe be put on a staple hoof, the shoe will project 

 too much at the quarters, and the heels of the shoe will come 

 too close together and too much under. By coming too close 

 together, they confine or press on the frog, and thus prevent 

 its free motion as a wedge to cause the foot to expand or spread, 

 causing it to be absorbed, or wasted away, and diminished in 

 size. Causing the frog to be more or less confined, and, conse- 

 quently, wasted away, is the main evil which necessarily 

 attends shoeing. For this reason we should be particularly 

 careful not to increase this evil by bad shoeing. 



No shoe should be gathered in too far under the heel. The 

 shoe should not be brought around perfectly even with the 

 wall of the hoof at the heel, and terminate just even with the 

 wall, as it is reflected, or turned in, to form the bars. Com- 

 mencing at the back part of the quarter, the shoe should pro- 

 ject a little beyond the crust, and still a little more as it passes 

 back, and should extend beyond the heel of the crust about 

 one-eighth of an inch, or a little more. Now, what is the ob- 

 ject of thus letting the shoe come out further than even with 

 the crust, as it passes from the quarter and back of the heel? 

 I will explain. Xine-tenths of the shoes put on in this country 

 are allowed to remain on for several months, or until they 

 come off by long use. By the natural growth downward and 

 forward of those parts which hold the nails, the shoe is carried 

 forward, and if left even with the crust at the back part of the 

 quarter and heel, must soon be carried so far forward that the 

 crust, at these parts, will project over the shoe, and in a very 

 short time the heel of the shoe will be found imbedded inside 

 the crust between it and the bars, that is, on that part of the 



