338 ON PLATING RACE-HORSES. 



on the course, more particularly if the three-quarter 

 plates are to be used. 



I shall now make some few remarks on taking the 

 shoes off from race-horses' feet, preparatory to the put- 

 ting on of the plates. When the wall or crust of a 

 horse's feet is strong, and there is plenty of horn to 

 nail to, and the soles are of a good substance, the 

 shoes may be taken off in the usual manner, without 

 much risk of injuring the foot. The smith, in taking 

 them off, first knocks up the clinches with his buffer; 

 then with one side of his pincers placed between the 

 shoe and the sole of the foot, and with the other side 

 of them placed on the outside and upper edge of the 

 shoe, he gives sufficient strength in forcing them down- 

 wards and inwards, to draw the nails, and the shoe 

 comes off in the pincers. But with horses that have 

 thin weak feet, this method of taking off the shoes 

 must never be had recourse to. I have observed smiths, 

 who were not much in the habit of taking shoes off 

 from horses' feet use more strength than judgment. On 

 such occasions, if they would give themselves time for 

 a moment to examine the sort of feet from which they 

 may be going to remove shoes, they would find that to 

 use less of the former, and more of the latter, would 

 not only be considerably safer for the horses, but much 

 more advantageous to themselves ; for by doing the 

 thing properly, they would preserve the foot, and have 

 more horn to nail to. 



In removing shoes from bad feet, the smith should 

 first knock up the clinches with one end of the buffer, 



