AITLYING TnE SHOE. 83 



over; the rasp also removes the small barb of horn 

 raised in drawing up the nail, but without making a 

 notch, and then the clench is laid down evenly. No more 

 rasping or cutting should be allowed on any pretext 

 whatever. 



Rasping. — Very different to this treatment is that 

 practised in nearly every forge, where the front of the 

 hoof is rasped most unmercifully as high as the coronet. 

 Indeed, in the majority of books on farriery it is recom- 

 mended that, though the wall ought not to be rasped 

 above the clenches, this must be done below them ; evi- 

 dently ignorant of the fact that nearly as much, if not 

 more, harm is done by this operation below than above 

 these rivets. 



Those who study what I have said concerning the 

 structure of the wall of the hoof will readily enough un- 

 derstand the amount of injury inflicted on the foot by 

 this rasping. 



Over the whole external face of this part there appears 

 to be spread a fine translucent horn, which looks like a 

 varnish, whose office in all probability is to prevent undue 

 drying of the hoof and consequent brittleness. Imme- 

 diately beneath this are the dense resisting fibres of the 

 wall, which are intended to resist wear, and are best 

 adapted to support a shoe, through the medium of the 

 nails ; in fact, they are the fibres which ought to perform 

 this duty, as beneath them, toward the inside of the wall, 

 the horn rapidly becomes soft and spongy, and more like 

 the pith of a rush. 



In consequence of the farrier having neglected to re- 

 move a sufficient amount of horn from the lower margin 

 of the wall, when preparing the foot for the shoe, or hav- 

 ing nailed on a plate too small for its natural circumfer- 

 ence, a large piece of the solid material projects beyond 

 the shoe, particularly in front and at the sides. This is 



