AND HOW TO KEEP IT SOUND. 29 



Pressed, and will materially assist in overcoming thfe .endency 

 tliat the tow has to work itself out. 



Much of the inconvenience supposed to arise from shoeing 

 with leather, is caused by the injudicious placement of the 

 tow. I believe that many horses derive great comfort from 

 liaving leather inserted between the foot and the shoe ; par- 

 ticularly when the surface of the roads is broken up, and 

 strewed with loose stones. Its use is sometimes objected to 

 on the ground that it rots the frog ; but this is altogether a 

 mistake : what appears to be decayed frog, is nothing more 

 than aii accumulation of the natural exfoliation of horn, 

 which the presence of the leather has not allowed to escape. 



In the first edition I omitted to say any thing about the 

 treatment of the hind foot, because I considered it of less 

 importance than that of the fore foot ; but as I was repeatedly 

 assured that a few general remarks upon it would not prove 

 altogether mnacceptabie, I availed myself of the first oppor- 

 tunity that offered of appending them. 



The hind foot certainly does not demand the same meas- 

 ure of attention as the fore foot, inasmuch as its position in 

 the horse and the nature of its office render it less liable to 

 injury, and consequently, less frequently lame. It is, how- 

 ever, by no means entirely exempt, nor does it ahvays escape 

 disease of its navicular joint; for I have myself found dis- 

 ease in a navicular bone taken from a hind foot. This 

 being the case, then, we should endeavor to guard against it 

 by interfering as little as possible with its expansive power ; 

 and that will be best done by keeping the nails on the inside 

 as far removed from the heel as we conveniently can, to 

 which end I recommend the employment of seven nails only, 

 —four to be placed in the outer and three in the inner side 

 of the shoe. The holes in the inner side are to be punched 

 closer together, and kept more towards the toe than those on 

 the outsMe, which need to be more spread out, as affording 

 greater security of hold to the foot. The shoe should be 

 carefully fitted to the hoof all round, particularly at the heels, 

 which are too commonly left without any support whatever ; 

 and the mischievous custom of turning down the outer heel 

 only must be avoided, because it throws the weight entirely 

 wpon the inner quarter, which is the part the least able to bear 

 it, and causes much uncomfortable strain to the fetlock joint 

 above. Calkins, even though they may be turned down of 

 perfectly even lengths or. each side, which, however, is very 

 rarely done, are objectionable appendages, and had better be 



3* 



