70 THE HOESE OWNEe's 



TREATISE ON SHOEING. 



The following directions taken from Mr. Miles' excel- 

 lent treatise on horse-shoeing, are the best that can be of- 

 fered on this subject; 



PREPARING THE FOOT. 



You must begin by taking off one of the old shoes ; and 

 I say one, because the others should always be kept on 

 for the horse to rest upon. All horses stand quieter "on 

 shod feet than they can on bare ones, and they are less 

 likely to break the crust. Many tender-footed horses are 

 in positive agony when forced to rest on a bare foot, while 

 the opposite one is held up to be shod. First raise all the 

 clinchers with the buffer, and if the shoe will not then 

 come off easily, loosen some of the nails with the punch; 

 but never te^r the shoe off by main force as it splits the 

 crust, widens the nail-holes and destroys the horn. The 

 shoe being off, you should rasp the edge of the hoof all 

 rv)und, and take out any stubs that may be left in the 

 crust. Then you must pare out the foot, and this requires 

 both care and thought. If the horse have a strong foot 

 with plenty of horn, you should shorten the toe, lower the 

 heels and crust and remove the dead horn from the sole, 

 and also from the corners between the heels and the burs. 

 The best way of doing this, is to pare the burs down 

 nearly level with the sole, and then you can get at the 

 dead horn in the corners more easily. The part of the 

 bur which stands up above the sole, would have been 



