118 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



heavy shoe at a yellow heat be held tightly pressed against a hoof 

 which has 'been pared too thin, till it embeds itself, serious damage 

 may be done. But a shoe at a dark heat may be pressed against a 

 properly dressed hoof long enough to scorch and thus indicate to the 

 farrier the portions of horn that should be lowered, without appre- 

 ciable injury to the hoof, and to the ultimate benefit of the animal. 



The horse owner should insist on the nails being driven low. 

 They should pierce the wall not above an inch and five-eighths above 

 the shoe. A nail penetrating the white line and emerging low on 

 the wall destroys the least possible amount of horn, has a wide and 

 strong clinch, rather than a narrow one which would be formed 

 near the point of the nail, and furthermore has the strongest possi- 

 ble hold on the wall, because its clinch is pulling more nearly at a 

 right angle to the grain (horn tubes) of the wall than if driven high. 

 Finally, do not allow the rasp to touch the wall above the clinches. 



The Bar Shoe. The bar shoe has a variety of uses. It enables 

 us to give the frog pressure, to restore it to its original state of activ- 

 ity and development when by reason of disuse it has become atro- 

 phied. It gives the hoof an increased surface of support and en- 

 ables us to relieve one or both quarters of undue pressure that may 

 have induced inflammation and soreness. The bar of the shoe should 

 equal the average width of the remainder of the shoe and should 

 press but lightly on the branches of the frog. The addition of a 

 leather sole with tar and oakum sole-packing allows us to distribute 

 the weight of the body over the entire ground surface of the hoof. 



The Rubber Pad. Various forms of rubber pads, rubber shoes, 

 rope shoes, fiber shoes, and other contrivances to diminish shock and 

 prevent slipping on the hard and slippery pavements of our large 

 cities are in use in different parts of the world. In Germany tiro 

 rope shoe (a malleable-iron shoe with a groove in its ground sur- 

 face in which lies a piece of tarred rope) is extensively used with 

 most gratifying results. It is cheap, durable, easily applied, and 

 effective. 



In the large cities of England and the United States rubber 

 pads are extensively used. They are rather expensive, but are quite 

 efficient in preventing slipping on polished and gummy pavements, 

 though not so effective on ice. The rubber is stitched and cemented 

 to a leather sole and is secured by the nails of a three-quarter shoe. 

 Such a pad will usually last as long as two shoes. They may be 

 used continuously, not only without injury to the hoof but to it 5 ! 

 great benefit. The belief, unsupported by evidence, that rubber pads 

 draw the feet keeps many from using them. A human foot encased 

 in a rubber boot may eventually be blistered by the sweat poured 

 upon the surface of the skin and held there by the impervious rub- 

 ber till decomposition takes place with the formation of irritating 

 fatty acids; but there is no basis for an analogy in the hoof of a 

 horse. (Agr. Dep. F, B. 179.) 



