84 PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



torn away by the rasp, after the clenches have been laid 

 down ; and when this has been done what do we see ? 

 The wall of the foot, instead of coming down from the 

 coronet to the shoe in all its integrity and evenness of 

 slope, as soon as it reaches the clenches is chopped ab- 

 ruptly downward, giving the foot a stump or club-like 

 appearance, and greatly diminishing the extent of its bear- 

 ing surface. The greatest evil, however, is the loss of the 

 strong tough horn, whose presence is so necessary to pro- 

 tect the lower margin of the hoof and afford support and 

 hold to the nails. 



In consequence of its removal, these have nothing to 

 retain them but the thin pellicle of soft horn remaining, 

 and this being so weak, and exposed to influences it was 

 never intended to encounter, quickly dries up, shrivels, 

 becomes brittle, and cracks or breaks away in flakes. 

 Then we have a hoof deprived of its hom, and in as un- 

 natural a condition as can well be imagined ; it has been 

 so barbarously mutilated as to require the greatest care 

 next shoeing to place the nails in a shred of sound horn ; 

 the operation of rasping and curtailment being repeated 

 each time increases the evil, and should a shoe chance to 

 come off on the road 1 — an accident, it may be inferred, 

 extremely likely to happen — great damage will be done 

 to the pared sole, and the thin, brittle, slit-up wall, and in 

 all probability, after a few yards travelling, the animal 

 will be lamed. 



The morbid desire to make fine work of shoeing, when 

 the horse was first shod, ends in the greatest amount of 

 skill and labor being required to continue it, and keep the 

 animal to some extent fit for service, though with de- 

 formed feet, seriously damaged horn, and perhaps great 

 suffering. 



The truth of this can be verified by a casual glance at 

 the hoofs of almost every horse that passes us in town or 



