HORSE-SHOEING. 157 



When the circumference of the hoof has at length been 

 brought to a condition fit to receive the shoe, the rasp must 

 finish its task by removing the sharp edge, and rounding it so 

 as to leave a thick strong border not likely to chip. The unshod 

 hoof nearly always exhibits this provision against fracture of the 

 wall-fibres. 



Paring the Sole. — After the necessary diminution and correc- 

 tion of the obliquity of the hoof, and the preparation of the bed 

 for the shoe, the farrier usually proceeds to pare the sole. In- 

 deed, while the colt is still at large, and before the time has 

 arrived when its hoofs are to be shod with iron, the workman is 

 frequently called in to trim the hoofs, and paring the lower 

 surface is part of the operation. 



This procedure is as barbarous as it is unreasonable, especially 

 when carried to the extent that has been advised in books on 

 horse-shoeing, viz., to pare the sole until it springs to the 

 pressure of the thumb. In the great majority of forges this 

 most pernicious practice is carried out, either because the owner 

 of the horse thinks it necessary, the groom or coachman that it 

 makes the horse go better and the feet to look well, or the 

 farrier that it is more workmanlike — though if he is pressed 

 hard for any other reason he is unable to give one of a satis- 

 factory character. 



Like so many practices relating to the management of the 

 horse, this paring of the sole is absurd in the extreme, and has 

 not the most trifling recommendation to support it. Unfor- 

 tunately for those who recommend, and also those who practice 

 it, its evil effects are not immediately apparent ; a horse with 

 his soles denuded of their horn until the blood is oozing through 

 them, may not at the moment manifest arfy great suffering, 

 and may even go tolerably sound on a level pavement, though, if 



