DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 569 



shoe "full" at the quarter the bearing- surface of the hoof at the 

 quarter be not left unsupported or incomplete!}' covered, to be pinched 

 and squeezed inward ac^ainst the frog. This will be obviated by 

 making the outer branch of the shoe sufficiently wide and punching- it 

 so coarse that the nails will fall upon the white line. 



HOT FITTING. 



Few farriers have either the time or the skill necessary to so adjust 

 a cold shoe to the hoof that it will fit, as we say, "air-tight." Though 

 the opponents of hot fitting draw a lurid picture of the direful con- 

 sequences of appl3ung a hot shoe to the hoof, it is only tlie abuse of 

 the practice that is to be condemned. If a heavy shoe at a 5'ellow 

 heat be held tightly pressed against a hoof which has been pared too 

 thin, till it embeds itself, serious damage muy be done. Bat 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 lovrered, without appreciable 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 destro3^s the least possible amount of horn, has a wide and strong 

 clinch, rather than a narrow one which would be formed near the pomt 

 of the nail, and furthermore has the strongest possible 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 

 allovf the rasp to touch the wall above the clinches. 



THE BAR SHOE. 



The bar shoe (fig. 9) has a variety of uses. It enables us to give the 

 frog pressure, to restore it to its original state of activity and devel- 

 opment when by reason of disuse it has become atrophied. It gives 

 the hoof an increased surface of support and enables us to relieve one 

 or both quarters of undue pressure that may have induced inflamma- 

 tion 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 differ- 



