PREPARATION OF THE FOOT. 33 



requires a large rasp, just as a joiner must have a large 

 plane to produce a level-surface on wood. Harm, may 

 be done by the careless use of a rasp, and a bearing- 

 surface spoiled by the over-reduction of horn at one 

 place. This fault may be aggravated by attempts to 

 mend it, if such attempt take the form of further reduc- 

 tion of the whole hoof on a foot where horn is deficient. 



The drawing knife is a comparatively modern instru- 

 ment, which replaced a tool called the buttress. A draw- 

 ing knife is formed with great skill for the purpose of 

 paring out the concave sole of the hoof, and has done 

 infinite harm. In the days which have now almost 

 passed away, when it was thought the proper thing to 

 make the hoof look clean, smooth and pretty, the draw- 

 ing knife was the chief instrument in the j^reparation of 

 the foot, Now, when nearly all men know that the 

 stronger the sole and frog of the foot can be preserved, 

 the better for the horse, this knife is less used — and the 

 less the better. The doorman, preparing a foot for the 

 fireman to fit a shoe to, should not use a knife at all. 

 The man who fits the shoe requires a knife to remove 

 occasional little prominences of horn which are liable to 

 cause uneven pressures or which are in the way of a 

 properly fitted shoe — as, for instance, the edge of the 

 wall to make way for a clip, or the angle of sole at the 

 heel to prevent uneven pressure by the shoe. 



The toeing knife usually consists of about a foot of 

 an old sword-blade. This knife is held and guided by 

 one hand of the farrier, whilst witli the other it is driven 

 through overgrown horn by the hammer. Skilfully 

 used, it is unobjectionable, and for the large, strong 

 hoof of heavy draught horses, it saves a great deal of 

 time and labor. For the lighter class of horses it is 

 unecessary, and for weak feet with a thin horn covering 

 it is dangerous. 



The toeing knife cannot leave a finished level bear- 

 ing surface, and its work has to be completed by a few 

 strokes of the rasp. A farrier should, therefore, never 

 attempt to remove all the superfluous horn with the 

 knife; he should leave some for the rasp, so that in pro- 



