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comers between the heels and the bars ; the best way of doing this 

 is to pare the bars down nearly even with the sole, and then you can 

 get at the dead horn in the corners more easily. On no account 

 ever cut anything away from the sides of the bars, or, what is called, 

 ' open out the heels ;' and be sure that you never touch the frog with 

 a knife. A weak, flat foot will bear very little paring or rasping ; 

 the crust of such a foot is sure to be thin at the toe, low at the heels, 

 and the sole thin and weak ; therefore the less you do to it the 

 better, beyond getting rid of the little dead horn there may be, and 

 making the crust level where it is to bear upon the shoe ; this must 

 be done to all feet ; and, as the inner quarter, where there should be 

 no nails, does not wear away as fast as the outer quarter, where the 

 nails are driven, you should always place a rasp upon its edge across 

 the foot, to be quite sure that the two sides are level. Before you 

 pare out a foot you should always think of the state of the roads, 

 and if they are dry and covered with loose stones, or have been 

 lately repaired, you should take very little off the sole of any foot, 

 because, if you thin it, the stones will bruise it ; but when the 

 season is wet, and the stones worn in, you may pare out the sole of 

 a strong foot, until it will yield to hard pressure from your thumbs ; 

 but you must never pare it thin enough to yield to light pressure." 



Horses should be shod every three weeks if they have regular 

 work. 



The immediate application of tar, or some similar material, to the 

 newly-cut surface would at once arrest the escape of the fluids and 

 preserve the elasticity of the horn. It is quite possible to err on 

 the side of caution in the use of the knife ; a certain quantity of 

 horny matter must be removed, or the toes will either become too 

 long or the feet too upright, and the animal will move with an im- 

 perfect and stumbling action. When the hoof has been properly 

 prepared by cutting and rasping, the shoe is usually applied while 

 hot, and held sufficiently long and with enough pressure to burn a 

 seating. The advantages of this method are obvious ; the adapta- 

 tion of the shoe to the foot is thus rendered perfect, and the effect 

 of the heat is to make the part of the crust with which the shoe is 

 in contact soft and elastic for the time, and thus facilitate the 

 driving of the nails. The fewer the nails used the better. As much 

 as possible of the posterior part of the foot should be left unfettered. 

 Some horse owners contend that three nails are amply sufficient, but 

 in ordinary practice six will be found to be the minimum number. 

 Horses frequently stumble through bad shoeing, in that case keep 

 the heels up and shorten the toes, have less taken off the heels, and 



