334 ON SHOEING. 



would tliink possible, provided he will take the pains to understand the matter him 

 self, otherwise he had better not interfere. 



The old shoe must be first taken off. We have something to observe even here 

 The shoe was retained on the foot by the ends of the nails beinpr twisted off, turned 

 down, and clenched. Tbese clenches should be first raised, which the smith seldom 

 takes the trouble thoroughly to do ; but after looking carelessly round the crust and 

 loosening one or two of the clenches, he takes hold first of one heel of the shoe, and 

 then of the other, and by a violent wrench separates them from the foot : then, by 

 means of a third wrench, applied to the middle of the shoe, he tears it off. By these 

 means he must eidarge every nail-hole, and weaken the future and steady hold of the 

 shoe, and sometimes tear ofl' portions of the crust, and otherwise injure the foot. The 

 horse generally shows by his flinching that he suffers from the violence with which 

 this preliminary operation too often is performed. The clenches should always be 

 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. According to the common system 

 of procedure, many a stub is left in the crust, the source of future annoyance. 



The shoe having been removed, the smith proceeds to rasp the edges of the crust. 

 Let not the stander-by object to the apparent violence which he uses, or fear that the 

 foot will suffer. It is the only means that he has to detect whether any stubs remain 

 in the nail-holes ; and it is the most convenient method of removing that portion of 

 the crust into which dirt and gravel have insinuated themselves. 



Next comes the important process of paring out, with regard to w'ich it is almost 

 impossible to lay down any specific rules. This, however, is 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 labour than the proprietor of 

 the horse often imagines. The smith, except he is overlooked, 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 accumu- 

 late month after month, until the elasticity of the sole is destroyed, and it can no 

 longer descend, and its other functions are impeded, and foundation is laid for corn, 

 and contraction, and navicular disease, and inflammation. That portion of horn 

 should be left on the foot, which will defend the internal parts from being bruised, 

 and yet suffer the external sole to descend. How is this to be ascertained 1 The 

 strong pressure of the thumb of the smith will be the best guide. The buttress, that 

 most destructive of all instruments, being, except on very particular occasions, banished 

 from every respectable forge, the smith sets to work with his drawing-knife, and 

 removes the growth of horn, until the sole will yield, although in the slightest possible 

 degree, to the strong pressure of his thumb. The proper thickness of horn will then 

 remain. 



If the foot has been previously neglected, and the horn is become very hard, the 

 owner must not object if the smith resorts to some other means to soften it a little, 

 and takes one of his flat irons, and having heated it, draws it over the sole, and keeps 

 it, a little while, in contact with the foot. When the sole is really thick, this rude 

 and apparently barbarous method can do no harm, but it should never be permitted 

 with tlie sole that is regularly pared out. 



The quantity of horn to be removed, in order to leave the proper degree of thick- 

 ness, will vary witli different feet. From the strong foot, a great deal must be taken. 

 From the concave fool, the horn may be remo'.'ed until the sole will yield to a mode- 

 rate pressure. From tlie flat foot, little needs be pared ; while the pumiced foot should 

 be deprived of nothing but the ragged parts. 



The paring being nearly completed, the knife and the rasp of the smith must be a 

 little watched, or he will reduce the crust to a level with the sole, and thus endanger 

 the bruising of it by its pressure on the edge of the seating. The crust should be 

 reduced to a perfect level all around, but left a little higher than the sole. 



The heels will require consi(h>rable attention. From the stress which is tlirown on 

 the inner heel, and from the weakness of the quarter tliere, tlie horn usually wears 

 away considerably faster than it would on the outer one, and if an equal portion of 

 horn were pared from it, it would be left lower than the outer heel. The smith 

 should, tlierefore, accommndato his parinor to the comparative wear of the heels, and 

 be exceedingly careful to leave them precisely level. 



If the reader will recollect what has been said of the intention and action of tlie 



