C54 SHOEING. 



" There is scarcely a horse that comes imder our hand to shoe that 

 does not require some jiortion of the hoof to be removed, even thougli 

 it may be so excessively weikened by mismanagement as to i-eqiiire 

 several months' conservation before due quantity and proportion can be 

 produced. Bad management and disproportion of hoof go together, 

 iind though the latter may be slight, it i-equires attention and adjust- 

 ment ; all the horn we may remove with a file (not a coarse rasp) will, 

 in some cases, amount to no more than would cover the surface of a 

 shilling, yet the bearing surface of the foot is thereby both increased 

 and greatly improved. It is just, in these cases, when with equal mas- 

 tery a shoe is selected and fitted out, so that the siu-face of both foot 

 and shoe are counterparts of each other, and the latter is nailed to its 

 place with all possible care, that the animal which reached the shoeing 

 forge in torture and unable to walk, leaves it with freedom of action 

 and a cheerful countenance. 



" If I be asked. From what part would any hoof require to be 

 removed in various degrees in those cases vulgarly termed slumped ap 

 cases ? I I'eply that it is impossible to state this here, and nothing but 

 an apprenticeship at shoeing, or some such eqiuvalent, can make a man 

 reliable for putting into execution details of the kind, where rule helps 

 so little ; but generally, if not exclusively, the wall ii the part requiring 

 adaptation of surface; at the toe it may be projecting, and the edge re- 

 quire the file to be passed transversely acioss it ; or, the toe being too 

 short, the columns of the heels on cither side may be lowered slightly, 

 by holding the foot in the left hand and passing the flat part of the 

 file over the bearing surface from behind forward in one, say outside, 

 extremity of near fore, and backward over the inner heel, taking care 

 that both heels are level; the off foot, by reversing the action of the 

 hand, is treated in the same way. 



" But many men will say, Why not take the horse's foot between 

 the legs, as is the custom "? Because, where so very little has to be done, 

 1 want to see how to do it, and I do n't require the greater purchase 

 which the firm hold of the foot between my knees gives. I am only 

 stating, however, what I do, and how I do it. In the hind, feet we see 

 and can manage best by taking the foot in the ordinary way. . . . 

 I then take each foot forward ui:)on my knee, and, having seen exactly 

 how much hoof is required to be removed, and from what parts I take 

 the rasp, and with either the rough or file surface, according to the 

 quantity of hoof to be removed, I pass it vertically, so as to take ofi" the 

 outer edge to the extent required; then placing the foot between my 

 legs, remove the exfoliated sole, and, detaching parts of the frog, the 

 lirst by means of the bvifier, raising the loose flakes of horn from the 

 front backward by tapping the tool with the hammer, the superfluou;; 

 exfolications of the frog are then removed with the drawing knife, not 

 by paring it at all, or much cutting, but more by i-aising the flakes with 

 the left, thumb and finger, and detaching them with the knife. This 

 done, the bearing surface of the wall is to be adapted, and, holding the 

 foot in the ordinary way, fore or liind, the rasp is passed over the point 

 of the wall to reduce it to its i)ropcr depth. . . . 



" If the instructions just given be intelligently carried out, the 



