ROUan RIDES AND HIGH JUMPS. 77 



that so often ruins the sinews of the legs. Put on a sound footed 

 young horse, whose feet have never been hacked to pieces, they 

 will carry him, as we know irom experience, over rocky mountains,. 

 and what is even worse, over long, rough, stony river beds. 



That wonderfully capable and clever, though vicious hunter 

 " Bulky," which for years carried the huntsman of the Ashburton 

 Hunt Club over a rough stony country, and was never known to 

 be behind either at a jump or a burst, was always shod with very 

 light tips, generally put on by the huntsman himself. In those 

 tremendous six feet jumps, which made that horse so celebrated 

 amongst the daring hunters of New Zealand, he landed on the good 

 frogs and heels which nature provided for him. 



lol. — Whatever kind of shoe is used, or whatever kind of 

 work the horse is wanted to do, the one unvarying rule should be 

 to let the centre of the foot alone, and to leave it prominent 

 enough to take its full share of the weighc of the horse. The toe 

 may be shortened as much as it conveniently can be, but let 

 nothing be taken from the heel if the frog can be kept prominent 

 enough without doing so. "Where tips are used it need never be 

 touched ; where long shoes are used any unequal projections 

 must be filed off that interfere with the perfect bedding of the 

 shoe. Rasp the bottom of the outside of the hoof until you 

 procure a level, flat surface, as wide as the shoe or tip to be nailed 

 on to it, and exactly fitting it, and don't interfere with any other 

 part of the foot. Kasp no more of the sole away than may be 

 necessary to bed your narrow tip, or shoe, and don't leave the 

 soft sole any lower than the hard crust, !jut let them both take a 

 level bearing on the straight level top of the shoe or tip. The 

 shorter the horse's toe is kept the less likely he will be tu hiiua: 

 his toe to the ground before his heel, and consequently to stumble, 

 whilst anything that raises the foot off" the ground, weakens the 

 horse, and puts more strain on all his powers. 



152. — The upper surface of the shoe or tip must be perfectly 

 smooth, and the projections raised by puncturing the nail holes 

 thoroughly filed down, but the under surface should be rounded 

 off at the edges, as a worn hoof or worn shoe would naturally^bc. 

 The shoe or tip must of course be made the right size and shape 



