M 



ON SHOEING. 



The period when the shoe began to be nailed to 

 the horse is uncertain. William, the Korman, intro- 

 duced it into England. Far more than is imagined, 

 the comfort and health of the horse, with the 

 safety of the rider, depend upon shoeing. In taking 

 off the old shoe, the clinches of the nails should 

 always be carefully raised, or filed off, and where the 

 foot is tender, or the horse is to be examined for 

 lameness, each nail should be partly punched out 

 The edges of the crust are then to be rasped, to 

 detect whether any stubs remain in the nail holes, 

 and to remove the crust into which dirt and gravel 

 have insinuated themselves. Next comes the impor- 

 tant process of paring out, with regard to which it is 

 impossible to lay down any specific rules. It is, how- 

 ever, undoubted, that far more injury has been done 

 by the neglect of paring, than by carrying it to too 

 great an extent. The act of paring is a work of 

 much more labor than the proprietor of the horse 

 often imagines. The smith, unless he is looked to, 

 will frequently give himself as little trouble about it 

 as he can, and that portion of horn which, in the 

 unshod foot, would be worn away by contact with 

 the ground, is suffered to accumulate month after 

 month, until the elasticity of the sole is destroyed, it 

 can no longer descend, its other functions are impe- 



