78 SCIENTIFIC HORSESHOEING. 



In addition to these instruments every farrier should be pro- 

 vided with a metal rule having a scale of about 6 inches, and 

 also a short narrow tape line (18 to 24 inches long) ; the special 

 uses of which will be made apparent in the explanations to 

 follow. , 



Method of Procedure. — Fig. 22 shows the uplifted foot in 

 proper position for handling and examining it while applying 

 the adjuster and testing the angles at different parts, as well as 

 afterward, when viewing its levels and proving its balances. 



With the foot in this suspended position, we begin the oper- 

 ation of scientifically leveling and balancing it, by starting a 

 line through center of frog-cleft and carrying it forward over 

 the point to center of toe at base of hoof, dividing the foot from 

 front to back in two equal halves. See Fig. 23, line A, B, B. 



Mark the point at base of toe (with chalk), then, with a tape 

 line, measure the circuit of the hoof round the top border at 

 coronet (just below the hair), and starting again at frog-cleft, as 

 the center of operations, measure half way round the coronet 

 from both inner and outer sides, and mark point of meeting at 

 top of wall in front, then draw line from point at base to point 

 at top, and you will have the center or median plane of foot and 

 leg as shown by line H, H, in Fig. 18. 



Now, with the foot still in hand, take up the adjuster and 

 press the bed-plate firmly against the bottom of the foot and 

 turn the lever down until it rests upon the front toe of wall, as 

 shown in Fig. 17, and observe whether or no the angle of the 

 toe corresponds with the normal slope of the pastern, also if the 

 wall lines up with the straight edge of the lever, evenly and 

 truly from base to coronet. The first consideration is that the 

 obliquity or angle of the toe should be the same as that of the 

 ankle above, and the second is that any abnormal growth or 

 variation in length, convexity, or concavity, should be reduced 

 to a normal or healthy form, according to the principles subse- 



