226 ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



Faults of Faults of preparation : — 



prepara- (j) Overlowering of the wall. Skill and experience are the only 



^*^"' safeguards against this, and, as in other details, the smith has to 



trust his eye and hand. It is not a usual error with skilful 

 workmen, and as a rule only occurs the first time a newly-joined 

 horse is shod, after which the man knows how much can be 

 safely removed. Flat, spreading feet are most likely to suffer in 

 this way. 



(2) Uneven bearing surface, from overlowering one side as compared 



with the other. A fault only found among learners or due to 

 carelessness. 



(3) "Stumping up" or " dumping" the toe. This is a serious fault. 



If the toe requires shortening, it should be done by rasping the 

 ground surface and not the front of the wall. If the latter is 

 practised, it narrows the bearing surface of the foot and by 

 rasping away the hard, outer horn, exposes the softer, moister 

 layers beneath, which then become brittle. When an attempt 

 is subsequently made to drive nails into the brittle horn, this 

 splits and breaks off, so that the shoe may be lost. Dumping is 

 very occasionally necessary with flat feet in order to get the 

 nails high enough up the wall to give a secure hold. 



(4) Paring the sole. This Avas formerly considered a correct 



procedure. The horn was carefully pared until it "sprung" 

 under the pressure of the farrier's thumb. The naturally thick, 

 protective sole was thought to be detrimental to the elasticity of 

 the foot and was therefore pared until it yielded on pressure. 

 The soft horn of the pared sole rapidly became brittle and dry, 

 just like that of the dumped toe ; and a mixture of clay and cow 

 dung was then plastered into it at night, to keep the foot "cool." 

 A continuance of the two last practices resulted in the horn 

 becoming so brittle that a run at grass or standing in clay was 

 sometimes necessary to make further shoeing possible. The 

 practice is now, as far as the army is concerned, altogether 

 discarded, and with the best results. 



(5) Paring the frog is another relic of the past, now prohibited. 



The frog was, for some reason, regarded as a delicate organ 

 which would be injured from contact with the ground, and had 

 to be saved by removal. The result was, as in the last two 

 operations, disastrous, and resulted in shrivelled, thrushy frogs 

 which gave no assistance in distributing concussion, and were 

 themselves liable to bruise from any unevenness of the road. 



