106 The Cart of Animals 



normal size and shape to act as a cushion for the foot. 

 After the foot is brought to its normal form, the shoe 

 should be made and fitted to it. The shoe must be of the 

 exact size of the foot, so that it will come flush with 

 the outer edge of the hoof. The nail -holes should not 

 be very close to the edge of the shoe, for in that case it 

 is necessary to drive the nails too far up into the wall to 

 make them hold. The shoe should be fitted cold, or just 

 touched to the foot while hot, never burned into posi- 

 tion. The nails should be small, and when driven 

 should be brought out well down on the hoof. If 

 driven too high, when the horse is re -shod the former 

 nail -holes are near the edge and serve to w^eaken the 

 hoof and interfere with the driving of new nails. After 

 the shoe is fastened, the nails are to be clinched in small 

 grooves filed for the purpose. After this is done, the 

 clinches may be smoothed with the rasp; but the outside 

 of the hoof should not be rasped, as this will remove 

 its natural protective covering. 



Shoes should be reset every five or six weeks, as the 

 hoof grows out over the shoe, so as to cause the shoe 

 to bear on the sole instead of the wall of the foot. 



Care should be exercised to keep the feet of colts in 

 a normal form before they are shod, as irregularities of 

 the feet are often the causes of disease. When shoes 

 are pulled off and an animal is to go barefooted, the 

 edges of the hoofs should be rasped off round, so 

 that they will not split badly. 



In devising special shoes for various forms of lame- 

 ness or defective gait, the position that the animal as- 

 sumes in travelling is a good indication of the kind of 



