100 PKACTICAL HOKSESHOEING. 



" Cutting," or striking and wounding the inner side 

 of the leg with the opposite foot, is sometimes a cause of 

 much annoyance. It may be due to weakness, fatigue, or 

 to a sudden change in the manner of shoeing ; in which 

 cases it is only temporary. But it may also arise from 

 malformed limbs or faulty action, and these defects may 

 be so exaggerated as to be scarcely, if at all, remedied by 

 shoeing alone. 



The usual part of the hoof with which the horse 

 strikes the opposite limb, is the inside toe or quarter. 

 Whichever of these regions it may be, the hoof must con- 

 tinue to be levelled at right angles to the direction of the 

 pastern, and a shoe equally thick throughout applied, the 

 only difference between it and the ordinary shoe being 

 the removal of a portion of the iron from the margin at a 

 point corresponding to the portion that causes the injury 

 to the opposite limb ; or the shoe, instead of being nar- 

 rowed in the branch at this part, may be straightened, so 

 as to lie within the hoof. No nails are to be inserted here ; 

 they may be placed in front of, and behind the striking 

 portion — at the toe and heel. The hoof, after the appli- 

 cation of the shoe, may then be reduced at the quarter 

 with the rasp, to diminish its convexity, and thus avert 

 " cutting " or striking. 



The periplantar method of shoeing is well adapted for 

 horses that " cut." 



Some horses have the awkward habit of lying like a 

 cow with one or both fore-legs doubled up at the knee, 

 and the elbow resting on the heel of the foot. Should 

 the ordinary shoes be worn, it almost inevitably follows 

 that the ends of the branches pressing upon the elbow will 

 cause the formation of a large unsightly tumor, which 

 may in time become an abscess or ulcerate. The preven- 

 tion of this is in the hands of the farrier, who has only to 

 shorten and smoothly round the extremities of the shoe, 



