548 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



much care to be used in observing the quality of different feet 

 or hoofs. Every horse that comes to the shop has a foot of 

 peculiar texture and shape. The shoe should be adapted to 

 these varying qualities, and also to the size, weight, habit, 

 etc., of the horse. The size of the horse must be taken into 

 special consideration — small, light animals by no means re- 

 quiring the thick and heavy shoes suited to the large draught 

 horse. 



A hard, flinty hoof does not require so wide a shoe as a 

 soft, pumiced one. It is a fault prevalent among smiths of 

 leaving too much space between the nails in the front part 

 or toe of the shoe. Shoes stay on much better when the 

 space here is small, as this is the strongest part of the hoof. 



Winter shoes may have calks, but summer shoes should 

 not. The summer shoe should have a large groove for the 

 nails to imbed their heads in, and the heel of the shoe may 

 be made somewhat thicker, so as to rest upon the ground 

 when the foot is elevated by the nails. Horses that have 

 tender or sore feet from the effect of corns or hoof-rot, or 

 both, or whose hoofs are worn down on turnpike roads, 

 should have a strip of felt cut in the shape of the shoe and 

 laid under it before nailing. This will greatly relieve the 

 pressure of the shoe. 



PARINO THE HOOFS. 



The usual fault in paring is in taking off too much at the 

 heel and not enough at the toe, thus throwing the foot too 

 far back and causing a dangerous strain upon the coffin 

 joint; and from this bad practice ring-bone, foot-evil, and 

 navicular disease often arise. As a rule, one-third more 

 should be pared off from the toe than from the heel, as the 

 pressure of the shoe wears the heel much faster than the toe. 

 We must differ somewhat from the high authority of our 

 English author in relation to paring the frog. It should be 

 pared at least a third of an inch lower than the sides of the 

 foot. The bars which hold it to the sides of the heel should 

 not be cut. The shuttle-bone lies immediately upon the frog, 



