216 



THE PRACTICE OF SHOEING. 



tendency to brush or strike it may be desirable to weight the 

 toe or quarter as afterwards referred to. The exact amount to 

 apply requires careful judgment. 



In choosing a new shoe the old one is usually the best 

 guide. Some farriers use simply a straw on which they 

 mark the length and breadth. During the early part of the 

 present century a large number of instruments were invented 

 for this purpose, with the object not only of showing the length 



Fig. 208.— Ewerloff's Podometer. 



and breadth, but the exact circumference of the hoof, and one 

 form is still regularly used in the French army. Most were 

 unpractical ; tlie only one of any A^alue was that suggested by 

 the Swedish officer, Ewerloff, in 1876 (see fig. 208). It con- 

 sists of strong tin and is cut into teeth as shown. In usino' it 

 the instrument is laid on the hoof, the shape of which is marked 

 on it with chalk. ' Podometers,' however, are now never used 

 in England. 



