184 SHOEINa 



upright feet and high heels ; and such are always benefited by 

 having the toe shortened, the heels lowered, and the sole well 

 pared out; whereas in horses with flat feet and low heels, 

 horn grows sparingly, and the toe of such feet being always 

 weak, admits of very little shortening. Such heels being 

 already too low, they should scarcely be touched with the 

 rasp ; and the sole presents such a small quantity of dead 

 born, that the knife should be used with great discretion. 



The corners formed by the junction of the crust and bars 

 should be well pared out, particularly on the inside ; for this 

 is the common seat of corn, and any accumulation of horn in 

 this situation must increase the risk of bruising the sensitive 

 sole between the inner part or heel of the coffin bone and the 

 horny sole. Little, if anything, is gained by allowing the 

 bars to project beyond the surface of the sole ; the power of 

 resisting contraction cannot possibly be increased by this 

 arrangement, and the projecting rim is left exposed to the 

 danger of being broken and bruised by contact with stones 

 and other hard substances ; and the method is further attended 

 with the disadvantages of making the cleaning out of these 

 corners a work of considerable ingenuity with so unwieldly an 

 instrument as a common drawing-knife. It is much preferable 

 to pare them down to a level with the sole, or very nearly so ; 

 avoiding, however, every approach to what is styled ' opening 

 out the heels," a most reprehensible practice, which means 

 catting away the sides of the bars, so as to show an apparent 

 increase of width between the heels, which may for the time 

 deceive the eye, but is in reality a mere deception, purchased 

 at the expense of impaired powers of resistance in the bars 

 and ultimate contraction of the feet. It is palpable that the 



