XVIIl] 



SHOEING AND CARE OF THE FEET 



213 



jagged pieces of the frog, bars or sole be touched. 

 If a clip is used on the shoe (Sec. 846), only 

 sufficient of the wall should be cut out to fit it. 

 When the foot is placed on a plane it must 

 lie absolutely flat and even, with every portion of 

 it touching the plane. The walls must be pared 

 and rasped underneath so that when the foot is 

 on the ground the angle of the wall is 45° in the 

 fore feet and 50° in the hind feet, i.e. at the toe 

 of the foot. To prevent the wall from chipping 

 at the bottom, a rasp must be run round the 

 outer edge, just to remove the sharp edge and 

 no more, before the shoe is put on. 



836. The Conformation of the Foot. — Small 

 feet do not stand hard work, especially with 

 farm horses ; on the other hand, if they are too 

 large they will probably be coarse and deficient 

 in toughness and strength. Healthy feet will 

 always be in pairs, i.e. both fore and both hind 

 alike. It is, therefore, generally easy to discover 

 a contracted heel by comparing it with the 

 opposite foot. The existence of odd feet is nearly 

 always a sign of disease. 



The practice of leaving the heels too high is 

 quite wrong and most injurious, as it tends to 

 reduce frog pressure and increase concussion on 

 the limbs. On the other hand, if the toes are 

 left too long, there is a tendency to cause extra 

 strain on the back tendons of the foot. (P. 139.) 

 This shows approximate angle of the toe and 

 height of the heel, heels too high, and heels too 

 low. As feet vary as much as, or more than, 

 other parts of the horse, it is impossible to 

 specify any one type of foot, and most foolish to 

 attempt to make all horses' feet of the same shape. 



837. Expansion of the Heel. — As explained 

 above, the foot expands slightly every time the 

 frog is brought to the ground ; hence the neces- 

 sity for not having nails near the heels of the 

 foot. The top surface of a shoe at the heel 

 always becomes worn a little and appears bright 

 if the foot is healthy and the frog in contact with 

 the ground. This worn portion on the shoe is 

 due to the expansion and contraction of the heels 

 at each step. 



838. Shoeing. — Horses should either be re- 

 shod, or have their shoes removed and feet 

 trimmed and shoes put on again, once a month. 

 In Canada in winter, when horses wear spikes 

 or calkins to prevent slipping (P. 138c), the 

 shoes get very little wear, and very often the 

 owners neglect to send their horses to the forge 

 every month. Light shoes will wear away in 

 two or three weeks on very hard macadam 

 roads if the horse is doing much work. 



In shoeing a horse it must always be well 

 treated, and thus made to associate shoeing with 

 pleasant things. If this is done he will not 

 object to being shod, and the work of the farrier 

 will be made very much more easy. {See 

 Chapter III.) 



839. Shape of the Foot.— The fundamental 



principle is that the upper surface of the shoe 

 should be quite flat, and not " seated," i.e. 

 with a bevel on the inner edge. (P. 139.) 

 The whole of the surface should bear against 

 the under surface of the wall of the hoof. The 

 width of the shoe (known as the web) should, 

 therefore, be exactly the width of the weight- 

 bearing wall, so as not to touch the sole and not 

 to leave any of the wall unsupported. This 

 width is approximately f in. for most horses. 

 The practice of seating shoes should never be 

 allowed. The thickness of a shoe (i.e. the 

 weight of a shoe) should be sufficient to last 

 about five weeks — that is, for one week longer 

 than the period for using the shoe — and, there- 

 fore, this will vary with the work and roads. 



For fast work the shoe should be as thin as 

 possible, whilst for slow work, with heavy 

 horses, extra weight will not matter so much. 

 Heavy shoes on horses only tend to tire them 

 sooner, as the horse lifts unnecessary weight 

 every time he raises a leg. The practice of shoe- 

 ing with heavy shoes is carried on with hackneys 

 in order to make them lift their feet higher than 

 is natural. The high stepping of standard-breds 

 is, as a rule, natural, as I do not remember ever 

 seeing one of these with heavy shoes. (P. 43.) 

 The practice of heavy shoeing merely to give a 

 showy effect is cruel and contrary to good horse- 

 manship. 



840. A shoe should be made of the best 

 wrought iron. Most shoes nowadays are made 

 by machinery, and merely fitted by the farrier. 

 But every farrier should practise continually in 

 the making of shoes by hand, as it is an art 

 that soon dies with lack of practice. For light 

 racing shoes steel is used in order to get 

 sufficient strength into a small amount of 

 material. 



The weight of an ordinary riding shoe should 

 be between 9 oz. and 16 oz., but those of carriage 

 horses should be a little heavier — up to 24 oz. 

 in heavier types. Very heavy draught horses 

 sometimes have shoes up to 7 lb. in weight; on 

 the other hand, light ponies and horses for 

 special work have shoes of 6 oz., or even less. 



The under surface of the shoe should be flat 

 and on a level plane, except when it is " ful- 

 lered." The fuller consists of a groove running 

 round the under surface of the web a little 

 nearer the outside than the inside. (P. 138c.) 

 Fullering is done in order to diminish the risk 

 of slipping, as the bearing surface on the ground 

 consists of two narrow webs instead of one 

 broad one, as is the case when there is no fuller. 

 The length of the shoe should be the exact length 

 of the wall ; if longer, it is apt to be torn off, 

 and, if shorter, the ends are liable to press into 

 the foot and produce corns. For this reason it is 

 safer to make them longer than shorter. If the 

 heels of the fore feet are too long, they may 

 cause capped elbows. 



