502 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



tracted heels, be brought before him, such meets with 

 treatment yet more severe ; the bar is scooped out, the 

 frog trimmed, and the sole drawn as thin as possible, even 

 to the quick, under pretence of giving him ease ; because, 

 he says, he is hot-footed, or foundered. By which treat- 

 ment, the horse is rendered more lame than he was before.' 

 This causes contraction of the hoof and compression of 

 the parts within ; and, besides, a shoe was applied thin on 

 the outer circumference and thick on the inner, which, 

 being concave to the foot and convex to the ground, 

 afforded but few points of support, removed the frog from 

 pressure, and caused great mischief. I possess some speci- 

 mens of this terrible instrument of last-century barbarism. 

 It almost makes one shudder to think of the fearful agony 

 the poor horses must have suffered, when compelled to 

 wear and work with it. 



Osmer continues: 'Let the shoe on every horse stand 

 wider at the points of the heels than the foot itself; other- 

 wise, as the foot grows in length, the heel of the shoe in a 

 short time gets within the heel of the horse ; which pres- 

 sure often breaks the crust, produces a temporary lame- 

 ness, perhaps a corn. Let every kind of foot be kept as 

 short at the toe as possible (so as not to affect the quick), 

 for by a long toe, the foot becomes thin and weak, the 

 heels low, and the flexor tendons of the leg are strained ; 

 the shortness of the toe helps also to widen the narrow 

 heels. In all thin, weak-footed horses the rasp should be 

 laid on the toe in such a manner as to render it as thick 

 as may be ; by which means the whole foot becomes 

 gradually thicker, higher, and stronger. In all feet whose 

 texture is very strong, the rasp may be laid obliquely on 



