104 



THE ART OP HORSE- SHOEING. 



however, a few liorses that are always a source of trouble, 

 and there are conditions of shoeing which assist or pre- 

 vent the injury. The hind legs are the most frequently 

 affected, and this because of the calkins. Many horses 

 will cease "cutting" at once if the calkins of the shoes 

 be removed and a level shoe adopted. There are certain 

 forms of shoe which are supposed to be specially suitable 

 as preventives. A great favorite is the " knocked-up 

 shoe," i. e., a shoe with no nails on the inside, except at 

 the toe, and a skate-shaped inner branch. 



Fig. 75.—" Knocked-up " Shoes— with and without an inner Calkin. 



These shoes are fitted not only close to the inner 

 border of the wall, but within it, and the horn at the toe 

 is then rasped off level with the shoe. Whether they are 

 of any use is a question, but there is no question of the 

 harm they do to the foot. Some farriers are partial to a 

 three-quarter shoe — one from which a couple of inches of 

 the inside heel has been removed. Some tliicken the out- 

 side toe, some the inside toe. Some raise one heel, some 

 the other, and some profess to have a principle of fitting 

 the shoe based upon the formation of the horse's limb 

 and the peculiarity of his action. If in practice success 

 attended these methods, I should advise their adoption, 

 but my experience is that numerous farriers obtain a 

 special name for shoeing horses that " cut," when their 



