PREPARATION OF THE FOOT. 



43 



Level or Adjusted Surface? The bearing surface 

 of a hoof mast, of course, be exactly adapted to the sur- 

 face of shoe intended to be applied. Presuming that the 

 best surface for a shoe is one level from toe to heel, I 

 have insisted upon the necessity of a level bearing sur- 

 face on ^die foot. There are, however, exceptional cases 

 in which a level shoe is not used, and then we must alter 

 the foot accordingly. ■ Horses that wear the toe of a shoe 

 out of all proportion to the rest of the iron may bo bene- 

 ficially shod with a shoo turned up at the toe. To fit 

 such a shoe the hoof surface must not be made level; it 

 must be rasped away at the toe and rounded off to follow 

 the line of the shoe. In the three diagrams (Fig. 28) is 



Fto. 28.— Three forms of bearing Surface. 



shown — (a) side view of a foot prepared to suit the 

 turned-up shoe at the toe, (6) a level line to lit a level 

 shoe, and (c) a form often adopted on the Continent, to 

 suit a shoo fitted with a slight curve throughout. This 

 adjusted shoe is designed to imitate the shape of the 

 worn surface of an old shoe, or to some extent the worn 

 surface of an unshod foot. Every farrier knows hoAV 

 many horses go better after a level shoe has been worn 

 a few days than when first applied, and it is argued, 

 with reason, that the greater ease is due to the shoe 

 being worn, to the form offering least resistance to the 

 movement of the foot in locomotion. I have nothing to 



