FITTING AND APPLICATION OF SHOES. 



79 



from the center to the circumference like a saucer, and 

 the two spoiled articles were fitted together. Their sur- 

 faces of contact were two narrow ridges, which even the 

 most expert workman could not fit without injury to the 

 horse. 



Fio. 53.— Section of a "saucer" shoe. 



In Fig. 53, a shoe with an inclined surface is applied 

 ^.o a foot with a bearing-surface as wide as the wall, but 

 tlie only contact is at the edges. The horn at the edge 

 will yield, and the hoof be j^ressed inwards, as the weight 

 of the animal forces the foot into the saucer-shaped shoe. 

 When the bearing-surface of the foot, instead of being 

 as wide as the wall, is only a ridge, the horn yields more 

 rapidly, the clinches rise and the shoe becomes loose. 



In Fig. 54 is shown a section of another shoe with an. 

 inclined instead of a level surface, but the slope is from 

 within outwards. The effect of this is exactly the oppo- 

 site of the previous shoe. The wall is forced outwards, 

 and if it does not as a whole yield to the pressure, the 

 portion in contact is broken. When this form of bear- 

 ing-surface is adopted at the heels of a shoe, the two 

 sides of the hoof are violently forced apart, and it has 

 ■even been recommended as a means of exi^anding the 

 foot; but forcible expansion is both unnecessary and dan- 

 gerous. 



Always regarding the shoe as an extension of the 

 natural hoof in a harder and more durable material, it is 

 ■evident that the most stability will be attained by the 



