TREATMENT. 15 



ground^ and, therefore, ordinary farriers cut it 

 to the very quick, and hollow it out, especially 

 on the Continent, even until the foot bleeds ; 

 destroying the elasticity of the limb ; which, in 

 consequence, rests only upon the outer edge 

 of the hoof (as when a cup is turned upside 

 down) the centre being unsupported — which 

 may be compared to a human foot, resting 

 on the toe and heel only, without any support 

 to the ball. 



Shoes should be carefully fitted, and put on 

 perfectly cold ; for, searing a hoof with a red 

 hot shoe in order to fit it without the trouble 

 of paring — or, as Farriers say, to soften the 

 horn — burns this substance, and, drying the 

 oily fluids which should nourish the hoof, 

 contracts it; and, besides, the shoe becomes 

 loose by the crumbling of the burnt horn. 

 In nailing on shoes the points of the nails 

 should be brought out through the solid horn, 

 as low and near the edge of the hoof as 

 possible, not driven high up, splitting the 

 "quick," or the inner from the outer side, 

 before the points of the nails are brought 

 through. 



