284 SCIENTIFIC HORSESHOEING. 



where the shoe is to be set down to one-half the thickness of 

 the shoe. If the foot is properly pared, and the shoe made 

 and fit properly, it will give great relief to the disease. After 

 having the foot dressed and the shoe made and fit, fill the 

 bottom of the foot with fat salt pork ; tlien nail on the shoe 

 Willi a strong piece of leather to hold the packing in place ; 

 then take the horse and stand liiin in a soaking tub for one or 

 two hours, in warm Avater eight or ten inches deep. The ef- 

 fects of soaking will open the pores, and (he salt fat pork and 

 leather will exclude the air from the bottom of the foot. Tlie 

 pressure must be well taken off the sore spots. 



There are several other styles of shoes in this book for 

 bruised heels and side bones. To be successful tlie farrier 

 must use good judgment in dressing and jjreparing the foot 

 and selecting and properly making the shoe adapted to the 

 case in hand. Horseshoeing necessarily depends upon the 

 good judgment of the farrier. 



Of all the domestic animals, the horse has the most 

 strongly marked individual characteristics. Think of the 

 diversified families into which the equine race is divided — 

 from the tiny Shetland pony to the ponderous Norman, from 

 the sleek-limbed, thoroughbred Arabian racer to the scrubby, 

 bucking broncho of the Western plains. And the individuals 

 of these various families again differ from each other in phys- 

 ical conformation, in strength, in disposition, and in all the 

 attributes that constitute the equine, so that it may as truly 

 be said of the horse as of mankind, that no two are alike. It 

 requires no great skill to nail a semi-circlet of iron to a hoof ; 

 but the man who has made a life-study of the wonderful 

 anatomy of this most useful animal, and can so apply his 

 skill as to enable it, whether malformed or normal, to do its 

 work in the quickest time and with most profit to its owner — - 

 he has professional skill unexcelled in any calling. 



