THE CHARLIER SHOE. 121 



At first sight it has a fragile appearance, from its 

 extreme narrowness as compared with common shoes; 

 but it is strong enough, being thicker than the usual 

 shoe. Its greatest peculiarity, however, consists in the 

 manner in which it is applied. Instead of being nailed 

 on to the foot like a racing plate, it is as it were substi- 

 tuted for the ground surface of the crust, which is pared 

 away, leaving a groove for the reception of the shoe. 

 Fig. 2 represents the horse's foot prepared for the shoe 

 en profile. The groove should be of the same width as 

 the wall of the hoof, or a little less if the shoe is to be 

 applied hot; no smith with common care can make a 

 mistake here. The shoe must be very accurately fitted 

 to this groove (and here is an advantage the grooves 

 cannot well be fitted to the shoe), the grooves then being 

 deepened to an extent that brings the shoe nearly, not 

 quite, flush with the sole of the foot. Nothing further 

 is required beyond nailing on the shoe, the last nails 

 being two inches, or nearly so, from the heels. For 

 hunters six nails are preferable; five may suffice for 

 harness work, and certainly for hacking on the road. 

 The shoeing of weak-footed horses in this style demands 

 a little not much more care than when a strong foot 

 is the subject ; also the exercise of a little common sense. 

 A thin-soled horse, with a deficiency of horn, obviously 

 cannot stand the paring of so deep a groove as a strong- 

 footed one. To obtain the desired effect, the shoe must 

 here be made thinner, so that a more shallow groove 

 should suffice. The shoe, when on, allows the frog 

 to touch the ground in fact, leaves the foot in as 

 nearly as possible a natural condition. Frog, bars, 

 heels, and crust, all take their share of the work, while the 

 extreme lightness of the shoe has the best effect in de- 



