650 



SHOEING. 



maintained in all its parts. A reversed view of the same is shown 

 by cut 465. The dotted lines show the point to which the hoof 

 should be shortened, and the relation of the internal parts to the 

 wall and sole. The illustrations heretofore given of the hoof and 

 internal parts will give a good idea of the parts generally, and 

 how much should be removed. But shoers wishing to study the 

 subject more thoroughly, can easily do so by procuring a dead 

 foot and letting it remain in water until the parts can be sepa- 

 rated ; or burying it in stable dung for a short time, when the 

 hoof can be easily taken off, showing its exact thickness, and the 



Fig. 465. — Reversed view of Fig. 46i. Half size. Degree to which the 

 bones are crowded up out of the foot. 



relation it has to the parts within. In any case of paring the 

 foot, the principle should be to reduce it from its deformity, what- 

 ever it is, to its natural proportion and adjustment. If the frog 

 is hard and bony, it should be cut dov.'n so as to come v/ithin the 

 lower edge of the shoe ; for in such a case it would bo like any 

 ether hard, unyielding body under the heel. But usually the 

 frog is small, and seldom requires any attention. 



The authorities most common on " Shoeing " are explicit in 

 directing that the sole should be well pared out — made, in fact, 

 so thin that it Avill spring to the pressure of the thumb. This is 

 so injurious that I regard it necessary, though subjecting me to 

 considerable expense and trouble, to give at the conclusion of the 

 chapter such proofs as would convince of this, and would ask for 

 a careful reading of them. 



