46 PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



who practise it, its evil effects are not immediately appar- 

 ent ; a horse with his soles denuded of their horn until the 

 blood is oozing through them, may not at the moment 

 manifest any great suffering, and may even go tolerably 

 sound on a level pavement, though, if he chanced to put 

 his foot on uneven ground or a sharp stone, his agony may 

 be so acute as to cause him to fall. 



The paring knife is skilfully used to remove all the sur- 

 face horn down to that which has been most recently 

 formed, or is in process of forming. So anxious is the 

 groom or farrier that this, to them, most important opera- 

 tion should be carried out, that the soles are filled with 

 cow dung, or some other filth, for some time previously, 

 in order that the horn may be softened and rendered more 

 amenable to mutilation. When this " stopping " has not 

 been done, and particularly in hot, dry weather, the sole 

 is often so hard that it cannot be touched by the knife, in 

 which case, a red-hot iron is applied to the surface to 

 soften the horn, or hot ashes are used. Then the bars and 

 sole are sliced away until nothing it left but the thinnest 

 pellicle of their natural protection, through which not un- 

 frequently the blood may be oozing. This is nothing else 

 than downright cruelty, and should meet wilh the punish- 

 ment it so well deserves. 



To remove the excessive growth of the wall is an ab- 

 solute necessity ; but to denude the sole of its horn is wan- 

 ton injury to the foot and cruelty to the animal. This is 

 easily accounted for. The sole only increases its sub- 

 stance to a certain thickness^never too much^— and then' 

 the excess is thrown off in flakes in a natural manner. In 

 this way the sensitive parts are amply protected ; the sole 

 can sustain a share of the weight — especially around its 

 margin in front, where it is strongest — and meet the 

 ground, however rough and stony this may be, with per- 

 fect impunity. This is its function. 



