536 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



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, sep- 

 arates 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 enlarge every nail-hole, and weaken the 

 future stead}^ hold of the shoe, and sometimes tear off 

 pieces 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 ex- 

 amined for lameness, each nail should partly be 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 bystander 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 con- 

 venient method of removing that portion of the crust into 

 which dust and gravel have insinuated themselves. 



"Next comes the important process of paring out, with 

 regard to which 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 car- 

 rying it to too great an extent. The art of paring is a work 

 of much more labor than the proprietor of a horse often 

 imagines. The smith, except he is overlooked, will fre- 

 quently give himself as little trouble about it as he can ; and 

 that portion of the horn which, in the unshod foot, would 

 be worn away by contact with the ground, is suffered to ac- 

 cumulate 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 the horn should be left on the foot, which will 



