120 THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



My method will not spread a foot as quickly as the old 

 plan, but it is more etfective in the end and does not entail 

 the possibility of a permanent injury to the horse. It is as 

 follows : 



A shoe is made in summer without calks ; in winter with 

 very low ones, just sufficient to prevent slipping*. The 

 heel is cut down quiet low so as to g-et all the frog* press- 

 ure, and the foot is concaved a little at the heel, or from the 

 heel nails back. The shoe should have the nail holes well 

 toward the toe, and must fit the foot perfectly as far around 

 as the heel nails, but from this point to the heels should 

 project outside the shell. At the heels the shoe must be at 

 each side fi'om three-eighths to half an inch wider than the 

 foot and convex from the heels as far forward as the last 

 nails. In bad cases I do not drive more than six nails. 



The slioe should be removed quite often, and must not be 

 too convex or the foot will be spread too fast. 



In this way of shoeing, when the horse is standing the 

 feet will spread, and a circulation will be created inside the 

 hoof, which will lead to the filling* up of the cavity in the 

 natural way, or in other words, to a permanent cure. 



I have followed this plan for nine 3^ears and it never 

 failed. Flat feet do not easily contract. — By H. V. D. 



Shoeing Contracted Feet. 



It is a fact known to all shoers who have made the 

 anatomy of the horse's foot a study, that 3^ou cannot use a 

 bar shoe in ail cases of contraction. To illustrate : Let us 

 take two different cases. First, we will take a foot that has 

 a normal toe and outside quarter and heel, but the inside 

 quarter and heel are contracted. Now, how can we use, in 

 such a case, a bar shoe with a frog pressure ? I will give 

 you my way of treating such a patient. First put the foot 



