40 



PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



In speaking of the growth of the horn, it was remarked 

 that in health this took place in a regular manner over 

 the whole surface. It seems rather contradictory, there- 

 fore, to assert that the hoof increases in obliquity — ap- 

 pears to grow faster at the toe than the heels — when, if 

 this statement was correct, their increase in length should 

 be always the same. In the unshod hoof this lengthening 

 of the toe is not observed ; it only occurs in one that has 



been shod, and is to be accounted for by the fact that the 

 shoe, not being nailed back so far as the heels, is, every 

 time the foot falls on the ground, pressed against the horn 

 at these parts, and so great is this downward friction or 

 pressure that, after a time, not only is the hoof consider- 

 ably worn, but the face of the shoe is also deeply chan- 

 nelled at corresponding points. Owing to the shoe being 

 firmly fixed around the toe, there is no play at this part, 

 and hence the apparent inequality in growth between the 

 front and back of the hoof — a circumstance more observ- 

 able in the fore than the hind foot, from the heels of the 



