HORSE-SHOEING 211 



potent aid in curing or palliating certain maladies or deformities 

 of a special character. 



Perhaps the most frequent defects the farrier has to contend 

 with, are turning out or turning in the toe of the foot ; both of 

 which are not only unsightly, but are productive of more or less 

 injury to the limb from the unequal manner in which some of its 

 parts have then to sustain the weight of the body. 



To rectify the leg or foot when the toe turns outward, the hoof 

 should be levelled as before described, the margin of the wall at 

 the outside toe and back nearly to the quarter being well reduced 

 and rounded. The clip is to be drawn up nearer to the inside 

 than the middle of the toe ; the shoe to be fitted close to the 

 outside and quarter, but the inside, from the quarter to the heel, 

 should be more full than usual. In the course of several shoeings, 

 by this reduction of the wall at the outside of the hoof and the 

 fitting of the shoe, a most notable improvement will be effected. 



When the toe is turned inward, precisely the reverse treatment 

 must be followed ; the inside toe must be reduced, the clip of the 

 shoe formed near the outside toe, and the shoe itself fitted close 

 at the inside toe, but wide at the outside. In both cases the 

 shoes ought to be of the same thickness throughout. 



" Cutting," or striking and wounding the inner side of the leg 

 with the opposite foot, is sometimes a cause of much annoyance 

 It may be due to weakness, fatigue, or to a sudden change in the 

 manner of shoeing ; in which cases it is only temporary. But it 

 may also arise from malformed limbs or faulty action, and these 

 defects may be so exaggerated as to be scarcely, if at all, remedied 

 by shoeing alone. 



The usual part of the hoof with which the horse strikes the 

 opposite limb, is the inside toe or quarter. Whichever of these 

 regions it may be, the hoof must continue to be levelled at right 



