HORSE-SHOEING. 139 



that giving the tugle of ib , as is done in almost every treatise on 

 shoeing and the anatomy of the foot, is a grave error. Looked at in 

 profile, a hoof with this degree of obliquity would at once be pro- 

 nounced a deformity — the slope is too great (Fig. 6); and if the farrier 

 were to attempt bo bring every foot he shod to this standard, he would 

 inflict serious injury, not, only on the foot itself, but also on the back 

 tendons and the joints of the limbs. Careful measurement will prove 

 that the obliquity of the front of the hoof is rarely, if ever, in a well- 

 shaped leg and foot, above 50°, and that it is, in the great majority of 

 cases, nearer 5 6°. The sides or ' : quarters" of the wall are less in- 

 clined, though the outer is generally more so than the inner ; while 

 the heels are still more vertical, and the inner may even incline 

 slightly inward. Viewed in profile, the posterior face of the hoof will 

 be observed to have the same degree of slope as the front face. In 

 height, the heels are usually a little more than one-half that of the 

 toe ; both heels are equal in height. 



These features, as will be seen hereafter, are sufficiently important 

 to be constantly remembered. The other characteristics are to be 

 found on the lover or ground face of the hoof— the most important, 

 so far as the farrier's art is concerned. 



In a natural condition, the whole, or nearly the whole, of this face 

 comes into contact with the ground, each part participating more or 

 less in sustaining the weight thrown upon the limb. On soft or 

 uneven soil, the entire lower border of the wall— the sole, bars and 

 frog — are subjected to contact. Nature intended them to meet the 

 ground, and there to sustain the animal's weight, as well as the force 

 of its impelling powers. But on hard or rocky land with a level 

 surface, only the dense, tough crust and bars, the thick portion of the 

 sole surrounded by them, and the elastic, retentive frog, meet the 



