PLATES. 115 



coincide, as it ought to do, with that of the ground 

 surface of the foot. 



It is well to fit on the shoes hot ; although this 

 cannot always be done in India. 



The shoeing-smith should refrain, as much as pos- 

 sible, from rasping the external surface of the hoof. 

 He should not " spring " the heels of the shoe, i.e., he 

 should not leave a space between them and the horny 

 heels ; and he should, on no account, be allowed to 

 hammer down the heels of the shoe on to the heels of 

 the hoof, after the nails have been driven; for this 

 practice is a fruitful cause of corns ; as it gives rise to 

 undue pressure on the " seat of corn." 



Native shoeing-smiths, to save themselves trouble, 

 will, almost always, if ordered to supply thick heeled 

 Qoes, bring ordinary ones, the heels of which they 

 have thickened by simply reducing the width of the 

 web by hammering, instead of getting shoes made 

 expressly for the purpose required. As they manu- 

 facture neither shoes nor nails, but obtain them ready 

 made from the mistree (blacksmith), there is, usually, 

 some difficulty in inducing them to adopt any new 

 ideas concerning the shape of shoes. 



Plates are simply very light shoes, which are in- 

 tended to last for only one or two races. They are, 

 generally, fixed on the morning of the day before the 

 race, and, to see that all is right, the horse is then sent 

 for a short gallop, which constitutes that day's work. 

 A light plate for an Arab will weigh about 2J oz., and 

 be about half an inch broad. But as most horses, out 

 here, have to run at different meetings that follow each 

 other in quick succession, I much prefer using a stouter 



