HORSE SENSE. 



123 



THE SHOE SHOULD BE AS LIGHT AND NARROW AS POS- 

 SIBLE AT THE HEEL. 



"The shoe should be as light as the weight of the animal and the 

 nature of the work he is expected to perform will admit of, as the legiti- 

 mate mission of the shoe is to prevent undue wear of the wails, and a 

 light shoe will do this quite as well as a heavy one. 



"The upper surface of tiie shoe (the part that comes in contact with 

 the foot) should be perfectly level, and slioald not be beveled in nor out." 



THE SHOE MUST BE MADE TO FIT THE FOOT AND NOT 

 THE FOOT TO THE SHOE. 

 "It would seem to be unnecessary to say that the shoe should be so 

 shaped as to conform to the natural tread of the foot, yet a very common 

 practice obtains of using a shoe of uniform shape (often less in circum- 

 ference, if such a term is permissible, than the foot on which it is to be 

 nailed), and then rasping down the foot to fit it, thereby robbing the 

 walls of their natural covering, and permitting the escape of the mois- 

 ture of the foot by evaporation. Disintegration follows, and then the 

 wonder is why the foot will not retain a shoe as in the beginning! If 

 the shoe fitted as it ought to do, the use of the rasp would be next to 

 unnecessary, except, possibly, a very little under the clinches, and a 

 small gouge would be better for that purpose." 



Cut No. 55. 

 RIGHT ANGLE, BUT BOTH RIGHT AND WRONG FITTING. 



Figs. 7 and 8. Cut No. 55, show correct and incorrect fitting. Fig. 7 

 being right and Fig. 8 wrong. A badly fitting shoe is to the horse as 



