98 THE PRACTICAL HORBESHOER. 



and the water and mud will soak into these old holes and 

 cause the hoof to become rotten and brittle. 



I will g-uarantee satisfaction in all cases, and I further- 

 more s^y that deformed feet can be remodeled and cured 

 under my treatment. — By A. Larock. 



Shoeing for Sound Feet. 



Horseshoeing should be done in such a manner as to 

 keep health}^ sound feet in their natural condition, and to 

 make unhealth3^ ones as near sound as possible. I have 

 been especially interested in the theories bought forward 

 on the question of " Hot vs. Cold Fitting." Some make it 

 ver}' plain that if hot fitting is practised it is sure to ruin 

 the horse. Others again show clearly- that cold fitting is 

 almost as injurious, and entails the extra drawback of 

 waste of time. 



It seems to me that a combination of the two methods 

 would bring better results than either would alone. I ad- 

 vocate hot fitting and cold practice ; that is, fit the shoe 

 hot, and scarcely touch the foot with it, and when the foot 

 is sore or diseased don't even touch it, but bring the shoe 

 close enough to it to enable you to shape it to the foot, in- 

 stead of fitting the foot to the shoe. Of course in diseased 

 feet we cannot always fit the shoe to the foot, but we can 

 fit the shoe as nearly as possible to where the foot ought to 

 be, using the frog for a center guide. 



Horseshoeing is a trade that needs good judgment and 

 a large amount of practical common sense, as each horse is 

 different from all others, and we might say that each foot 

 on the same horse is different from the other three. Each 

 individual foot must be shod according to its peculiarities 

 or disease. Hence the impossibility of making Ruy one rule 

 that will answer for all horses. Even those afflicted with 



