APPLYING THE SHOE. 87 



When, in due course, the period arrives for re-shoeing 

 — usually in a month or five weeks — the hoofs require to 

 be reduced to their normal dimensions; the rules we have 

 laid down for guidance are to be followed out in the most 

 scrupulous manner. The old shoe is to be gently re- 

 moved from the foot by carefully cutting away the clench- 

 es with the buffer ; the pincers are then to be inserted 

 toward the heel, between the hoof and shoe, and the lat- 

 ter prized steadily upward from and across the foot. 

 When by this means the nails have been sufficiently 

 sprung, they may be withdrawn one by one. Particular 

 care must be taken that no clenches or broken nails re- 

 main in the hoof, as these are likely to turn the points of 

 the succeeding nails into the living parts of the foot. 



Such then, on the one hand, is shoeing as it is usually 

 practiced, to the great injury of the horse ; and, on the 

 other hand, shoeing as it ought to be performed, so as to 

 maintain the comfort and efficiency of this noble and in- 

 valuable animal. 



It will be observed that no claim is here made to any 

 wonderful novelty or discovery in the way of a shoe that 

 will answer every purpose, and keep every horse wearing 

 it in a state of health. Such an invention must be left to 

 those whose practical experience is of the most limited 

 character, and who fancy that the evils of shoeing are 

 concentrated in the metal plate alone. It may be sufficient 

 to say, in this place, that, so far as the comfort, utility, 

 and well-being of the horse are concerned, the preserva- 

 tion of the foot in health by abstaining from mutilating 

 and deforming it with knife and rasp, is of the -highest 

 importance. If this be done, the shoe most appropriate for 

 certain purposes demands some attention, but is really a 

 matter of minor consideration. 



Preserve the hoof intact and strong, and the animal 

 will travel long and soundly in a very uncouth foot arma- 



