American Veterinary Remedy. 51 



Among them is the insane habit of trimming the 

 frog and thinning out the sole till it will visibly yield 

 to the pressure of fhe operators' thumbs. The frog 

 is nature's cushion and hoof-expander, placed there 

 by an all-wise hand; by its elasticy it wards off 

 concussion from the less elastic portion of the 

 structure and by its resilence assists in maintain- 

 ing the natural expansion of its horny ambit, that 

 is, it does so in its natural state, but the drawing- 

 knife touch is fatal to it. Once cut, carved and de- 

 prived of its pressure, causes it to shrink, dry, and 

 harden and at once lose those attributes which con- 

 stitutes its usefulness to the foot. 



The operator next turns his attention to the 

 sole, which, by all traditions of the craft, must be 

 pared down until only a thin, soft and partially 

 formed horn is left to protect the living structures 

 within against injury from the substances from 

 which the foot necessarily comes in contact with. 



On this maimed foot a shoe, often many sizes 

 too small, is tacked, and the rasp is mostly used to 

 reduce the foot to fit the shoe; for although it is 

 apparently of little moment whether the shoe fits 

 the foot, but it is necessary that the foot, somehov,- 

 or other, fit the shoe. The foot is now shod and 

 protected from undue wear, to be sure, but at what 

 a sacrifice! Robbed of its cushion. Its natural ex- 

 pander; its sole mangled; its horny wall crushed 

 and deflected by an unncessary number of nails; 

 robbed by the rasp of its cortical layer of natural 

 varnish, which retains the moisture secreted by the 

 economy, and the foot is a very sorry plight in- 

 deed. It is a fact all the world over the farrier is 

 the only one among all our artisans who is least 

 amenable to suggestions from his employer. When 

 the ordinary horse-owner takes his animal to the 

 shoeing forge he has usually to place himself in the 

 blacksmith's hands and give him his own way to 

 cut and carve at his unholy will, or else take his 

 horse elsewhere and then probably find himself no 

 better off. The result is that his horse's feet are 

 mercilessly mutilated instead of being left as nearly 

 as possible as nature made them. 



