88 



THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



which he has to deal ; he must know how far the sensitive 

 membrane of the frog" and sole extends, so as to be able to 

 judge when and where to cut, and where to drive the nails 

 in adjusting' the shoe. It is not necessary that he should 

 have a thorough scientific knowledge, but just enough to en- 

 able him to understand the ^^ art of horseshoeing." It is 

 for want of even a little of this knowledge that so many 

 horses are crippled and rendered useless. 

 A great many horscshoers think nothing of these points. 



Fig. 60.— Sectional View of the Foot. 



but undertake to shoe horses imagining that they have 

 onl}^ a hard block of horn to cut at, burn away and destroy 

 without inflicting any injurj^ to the foot, and that nothing is 

 necessary but to make the foot look as " fanciful " as pos- 

 sible (to the great injury of the foot) — anyway, as long as 

 the horse is shod and no fault found. 



Now, this we know (or, at least, ought to know), is not 

 right. We cannot shoe properh^ unless we have at least a 

 little knowledge of the nature of the foot. 



I introduce here a cut. Fig. 60. showing a sectional view 

 of the foot in its natural condition ; A is the wall of the 



