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CHAPTER XX. 



SHOEING. 



There are three points concerning this important subject 

 on which I should Hke to thoroughly convince my readers. 

 Firstly, that the theory, sometimes put forward, of dispen- 

 sing with shoes for horses that are intended to work in 

 paved cities and over rough roads, is a fallacious one ; 

 secondly, that the shoeing done at ordinary forges is practi- 

 cally all wrong ; and, thirdly, that there is nothing at all 

 derogatory in going down one's-self to the blacksmith's, in 

 company with the animal to be shod, and not only giving 

 directions about the way in which it will be most advisable 

 to do it, but standing by to make certain that it is actually 

 done. Common errors among smiths are these ; cutting 

 down the frog until it cannot possibly come in contact with 

 the ground ; paring the sole, until it is either bedewed with 

 blood, or so thin that the effort to walk on it causes the 

 horse to wince ; opening the " bars " which join the frog to 

 the outer wall of the foot ; putting on unnecessarily heavy 

 shoes ; having a strong predilection in favour of calkins ; 

 rasping down the wall of the foot to fit the shoe, instead of 

 making the shoe to fit the foot ; and removing too much 

 of the heel horn. These faults proceed, as a rule, more 



