AND HOW TO KEEP IT SOUND. 31 



generally to be found at the extremities of the toe on either 

 side, just where the shoe begins to turn backwards, and they 

 should be removed by the file : — indeed it is a good plan al- 

 ways to make the front of the toe of the hind shoe to incline 

 backwards, as it approaches the ground, so as to place the 

 gro ad surface somewhat further back than the foot sur- 

 face. 



There is one other circumstance connected with the toe of 

 the hind shoe deserving of notice ; I mean that part with 

 which a horse inflicts upon himself the injury called an 

 " overreach," and which is erroneously supposed to be the 

 front of the shoe at the toe, whereas it is invariably caused by 

 the back edge of the web at the toe, which in an old shoe be- 

 comes as sharp as a knife, and often cuts out a piece from the 

 soft parts immediately above the heel of the fore foot as cleaD 

 as any knife could have done it. To avoid this accident 

 which sometimes produces very great inconvenience, the bacf 

 -sdge of the web all round the toe should be filed away, unti 

 it presents a blunt rounded surface, which, if it should fail J 

 preventing the overreach altogether, will at least preserve tli» 

 parts from being wounded. 



While treating of the hind shoe, I m^y perhaps be expected 

 to give some directions for obviating the inconvenient habi.. 

 which some horses have of " cutting ;" but as each individual 

 horse has his own particular mode of doing it, any generai 

 rule as applied to the shoe, must of necessity fail to meet the 

 requirements of the great majority of cases. Oar first care 

 should be to acquaint ourselves with the exact part of the 

 shoe with which the injury is inflicted : — until this is clearljf 

 ascertained we shall be working in the dark, an^ most proba- 

 bly do a great deal more than is necessary. The plan I have 

 always adopted has been to apply a boot covered with we^. 

 pipe-clay to the injured leg, and then to trot the horse some 

 little distance : — the result has been the transfer of a portior; 

 of the pipe-clay to the offending part of the opposite shoe, 

 thereby indicating the necessity of its removal. The smali 

 extent, and little suspected situation of such part, is some- 

 times truly surprising. I once, in a case of inveterate cutting, 

 found the pipe-clay adhering to the outside toe. In this case 

 the poor horse had been subjected to shoes of every conceiva- 

 ble shape and deformity, without, of course, any other result 

 than the torture arising from the twisting and straining con- 

 sequent upon uneven bearing : but the moment the offend- 

 ing part was discovered and removed, the cutting ceased ; 



