BREEDS OF HORSES 113 



ity of the hoofs, the form, length, position, and wear of the shoe, the 

 number, distribution, and direction of the nails, the manner in 

 which the hoof leaves the ground, its line of flight, the manner in 

 which it is set to the ground, and all other peculiarities, that at the 

 next and subsequent shoeings proper allowances may be made and 

 observed faults corrected. The animal must therefore be observed 

 both at rest and in motion. 



At rest, the observer should stand in front and note the slant 

 of the long pasterns. Do they drop perpendicularly, or slant down- 

 ward and outward (base-wide foot), or downward and inward (base- 

 narrow foot) ? Whatever be the direction to the long pastern, an 

 imaginary line passing through its long axis, when prolonged to 

 the ground, should apparently pass through the middle of the toe. 

 But if such line cuts through the inner toe the foot-axis is not 

 straight, as it should be, but is broken inward at the coronet, an 

 indication that either the outer wall of the hoof is too long (high) or 

 that the inner wall is too short (low). On the contrary, if the cen- 

 ter line of the long pastern falls through the outer toe the foot-axis 

 is broken outward at the coronet, an indication that either the inner 

 wall is too long or the outer wall too short. 



The observer should now place himself at one side, two or three 

 paces distant, in order to view the limb and hoof in profile. Note 

 the size of the hoof in relation to the height and weight of the ani- 

 mal, and the obliquity of the hoof. Is the foot-axis straight? That 

 is, does the long pastern have the same slant as the toe? Or does 

 the toe of the hoof stand steeper than the long pastern? in which 

 case the foot-axis is broken forward at the coronet, an indication, 

 usually, that the quarters are either too high or that the toe is too 

 short. If the long pastern stands steeper than the toe the foot-axis 

 is broken backward, in which case the toe is too long or the quarters 

 are too low (short). 



Next, the feet should be raised and the examiner should note 

 the outline of the foot, the conformation of the sole, form and qual- 

 ity of the frog, form of the shoe, wear of the shoe, and the number 

 and distribution of the nails. Does the shoe fully cover the entire 

 lower border of the wall? or is it too narrow or fitted so full on the 

 inside that it has given rise to interfering? or has the shoe been 

 nailed on crooked? or has it become loose and shifted? is it too short 

 or so wide at the ends of the branches as not to support the buttresses 

 of the hoof? Does the shoe correspond with the form of the hoof? 

 Are the nails distributed so as to interfere as little as possible with 

 the expansion of the quarters? are there too many? are they too 

 large? driven too fine or too high? These are questions which the 

 observer should put to himself. 



Note carefully the wear of the old shoe. It is the unimpeach- 

 able evidence of the manner in which the hoof has been set to the 

 ground since the shoe was nailed to it, and gives valuable pointers 

 in leveling the hoof. Wear is the effect of friction between the shoe 

 and the ground at the moment of contact. Since the properly lev- 



