FITTING THE SHOE TO FOOi" 



267 



are shoes with a rolled toe and special shoes, such as those for 

 laminitis. 



Some front shoes are rounded at the toe (tig. 265) ; as a 

 rule, this roundino- off should commence at about the centre of 

 the toe and be carried upwards to a distance equal to half the 

 thickness of the iron. This corresponds to the form produced 

 by natural wear, and is said to facilitate the last portion of the 

 stride. The trutli of the statement is, however, somewhat 

 donbtful. At the best the toe should only be ' rolled ' when 

 the horse wears excessively at that point. A rounded toe, 

 though possibly of use to heavy horses in slow work, prevents 

 the horse obtaining a firm ' grip ' of the ground, is awkward to 

 form and to tit, makes it difficult to produce a satisfactory clip, 



Fig. 265. 



and allowing, for the sake of argument, that it facilitates turning 

 and other movements in a small space, certainly decreases the 

 animal's speed. Those who claim that it reproduces the form 

 assumed by the unshod hoof, forget that the shoe in nowise 

 reproduces the hoof, and that the bearing of the unshod hoof 

 is altogether dift'erent from that of the shoe. 



{a) Fitting Shoes to Normal Feet. — After selecting the shoe, 

 giving it the proper form, and drawing the clips, it is applied to 

 the hoof at a dull red, in order to see whether it fits. Errors 

 in shape, etc., are then corrected, and any points on the hoof 

 which have been left too high are lowered by rasping away the 

 burnt horn. Provided the parts have been correctly trimmed 

 and the shoe holed, the depression for the toe-clip can then 



