SHOEING 



The hoof of the horse, in a state of nature, is adapted 

 only to a grassy surface. Here the natural wear and tear of 

 the hoof is just compensated by its growth. When the 

 wear is made greater than this, by driving on hard roads, 

 the horn is worn down so rapidly that the vascular part of 

 the foot would soon be exposed, and the horse would in 

 consequence become lame. 



Shoeing includes, first, the duty of preparing the feet for 

 the shoes ; second, forming the shoes to the feet, so as to be 

 most exact in size, weight and fitting to that part of the 

 hoof, and that only, that is shown by experience to be best 

 able to bear the pressure and strain of the shoe without in- 

 jury, and preserve its form and bearing best; and, third, 

 that when injury and lameness result, the cause, at least, 

 should be removed, and a reasonable effort made to restore 

 the parts to a state of health. 



That part of the foot which is visible, and to which the 

 shoe is fastened, is called the hoof. It is simply a thin 

 covering of horn to the delicate but powerful mechanism 

 of the internal structure of the foot, and for convenience of 

 description is divided into three parts, the wall, sole and frog. 



THE FOOT. 



There are other minor points, a full description of which 

 is not essential to our object here, such as the toe, heels, 

 bars, commissures, etc. The outer crust, or wall, is a sim- 

 ple piece of horn, of from a quarter to three-eighths of an 

 inch in thickness, increasing in thickness from the quarters 

 to the toe, where it is thickest and grows fastest, in order to 

 bear the increased wear upon this part. If this horn were 

 cut into and examined withp, microscope, it would be found 

 to be made up of a large number of little tubes, or hairs, 

 cemented together; that they can be split apart like the 

 fibers of wood, and that the horn increases in hardness and 

 density from the inner surface to that of the outer, the inner 



