204 



THE PRACTICE OF SHOEING. 



face. It weighs about 9 lbs. The fire-tongs are for holding 

 the old shoes which are being worked up as ' heats/ in the 

 fire. When the heat is ready for welding it is grasped with 

 the fireman's tongs and transferred to the anvil. Fire-tongs 

 are often used for beating down the wet coals while forming a 

 ' back.' 



The ' clamp ' is intended to hold a concave or fullered hunt- 

 ing shoe when being filed out. The shoe is grasped by the jaws 

 of the clamp and the latter inserted in the vice. The jaws are 



curved so that the shoe is brought into 

 a more convenient position for the work- 

 man than if it were inserted directly in 

 the vice. 



In preparing the hoof a good rasp 

 and a farrier's drawing-knife are quite 

 sufficient. Here and there in France 

 the Arabian form of knife shown in 

 fig. 192 is still employed. 



After glancing at the limbs, etc., and 

 judging of the relative strength of the 

 hoof to the weight of the animal's body, 

 the hoof is trimmed and any stubs care- 

 fully removed. The information already 

 gleaned must be kept in mind when 

 judging whence and how much horn is 

 to be taken away from the sole and 

 wall. 



It is not altogether superfluous to ask 

 whether horn must be taken awav, be- 

 cause cases occur where the hoof is 

 so weak that, if it were possible, we 

 should be justified in adding rather than removing. A faulty 

 shoe can immediately be replaced by a better, but once horn 

 is removed it can only be replaced by a very slow process of 

 growth. 



In any case loose portions of horn should be removed, after 

 which the white line is examined, and its condition and relation 

 to the circumference of the wall, which indicate the thickness 

 of the wall itself, noted. 



It is clear, of course, that only the wall should be lowered 



FiCx. 192. 



