14 THE horse's foot. 



The foot being relieved of the shoe, should have the edges 

 of the crust well rasped : to do this effectually requires a de- 

 gree of force calculated to arouse the fears of the uninformed, 

 and to make them suspect something like wanton destruction 

 of the hoof. It is, however, only removing those parts which 

 in the unshod foot would have been worn away by contact 

 with the ground. The practice is further beneficial in de- 

 tecting any stubs that may chance to have been left in the 

 nail-holes. 



The operation of paring out the foot is a matter requiring 

 both skill and judgment ; and is moreover a work of some 

 labor, when properly performed. It will be found that the 

 operator errs much oftener by rem.oving too Utile, than too 

 much ; at least it is so with the parts that ought to be re- 

 moved, which are sometimes almost as hard and unyielding 

 as a flint-stone, and in their most favorable state require con- 

 siderable exertion to cut through : the frog, on the other hand, 

 offers so little resistance to the knife, and presents such an 

 even, smooth, clean-looking surface when cut through, that it 

 requires more philosophy than falls to the share of most 

 smiths, to resist the temptation to slice it away, despite a 

 knowledge that it would be far wiser to leave it alone. 



It vould be impossible to frame any rule applicable to the 

 paring out of all horses' feet, or indeed to the feet of the same 

 horse at all times : for instance, it is manifestly unwise to 

 pare the sole as thin in a hot dry season, when the roads are 

 broken up, and strewed with loose stones, as in a moderately 

 wet one, when they are well bound and even ; for in the for- 

 mer case the sole is in perpetual danger of being bruised by 

 violent contact with the loose stones, and consequently needs 

 a thicker layer of horn for its protection ; while the latter 

 case offers the most favorable surface that most of our horses 

 ever have to travel upon, and should be taken advantage of 

 for a thorough paring out of the sole, in order that the inter- 

 nal parts of the foot may derive the full benefit arising from 

 an elastic and descending sole ; a state of things very essen- 

 tial to the due performance of their separate functions. 

 Again : in horses with upright feet and high heels horn 

 grows very abundantly, especially towards the toe ; and such 

 are always benefited by having the toe shortened, the heels 

 lowered, and the sole well pared out ; while in horses with 

 fiat feet and low heels horn grows sparingly ; and the toe of 

 such feet, being always weak, will admit of very little short- 

 ening. Such heels bein^ already too low, should scarcely bo 



