THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 19 



is taken to the shop and has '^ a new set all round." The 

 old shoes when removed are contemptuously tossed into 

 the scrap heap, with the remark that '^it is a great 

 wonder that the horse could go at all with such things on ; 

 should suppose he would cut himself all to pieces." Now 

 the horse is to be shod properly. No more great sprawling 

 shoes. 



The feet are cut down, the soles are pared thin, the frogs 

 are ^Hrimmed into some shape," and the shoes are fitted 

 full on the outside and dose on the inside. Of course 

 there is no harm in fitting the shoe full even to projecting a 

 little on the outside, but on the inside,* where there may be 

 danger of striking, the shoe must be fitted and nailed on 

 close. What is close ? Why, anywhere fron one-sixteenth 

 to one-quarter of an inch out from being flush with the wall 

 on the inside quarter, the projecting hoof to be rasped off 

 after the shoe is nailed on and the clinches laid down. In 

 rasping off the projecting wall from the inner quarter to the 

 toe, the shoer, to avoid an unsightly joining of angles, car- 

 ries the rasping up on the wall to, perhaps, within an inch, 

 or thereabouts, of the coronet; and of course to make it look 

 right the rasping must be continued all the way around to 

 the same height, Avhen by a liberal application of saliva, and 

 a rub with the hand or corner of the apron, or sometimes 

 with a dampened sponge kept for the purpose, the injury to 

 the enamel is to some extent concealed temporaril}-, and the 

 horse is pronounced well shod. 



What is the result ? 



The small stones which strike the sole cause the horse to 

 flinch and finally to go almost continually lame, or at least 

 with an uncertain gait, caused in part by actual hurt and 

 partly from fear of being hurt. There is a tendency of the 

 ankles to turn in, and also of the knee, at each successive 

 step, owing to the lessened amount of ground bearing which 

 the foot has on its inner half. Half ? No ; too much has 



