20 ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEING. 



matter, and cause much pain and lameness; an accident 

 which the older farriers termed 'g-ravelling-.' 



*'In viewing- the horse's hoof as a whole, and in the un- 

 shod state, we find that it presents several salient charac- 

 teristics, the consideration of which ought to dominate or 

 serve as a guide in framing rules for the observance of far- 

 riers in the practice of their art. The first of these is the 

 direction in which the wall grows in a health}^ condition. 



" Viewed as it stands on a level surface, the hoof may 

 said to be somewhat conical in shape, its upper part being 

 a little less than its base ; and although, geometrically, its 

 shape may be described as the frustum of a cone, the base 

 and summit of which have been cut by two oblique planes 

 — the inferior converging abruptly behind toward the su- 

 perior — yet the circumference of the hoof does not offer that 

 regularity which this description might imph^ ; on the con- 

 tary, in a well-formed foot, we find that the outline of its 

 inferior or ground border is notably more salient on the 

 outer than the inner side, giving it that appearance which 

 has been designated the ' spread.' 



*^ A cone being intersected by two planes oblique to its 

 axis, and not parallel to each other, gives a good idea, 

 nevertheless, of the obliquity which forms so marked a feat- 

 ure in the hoof. The degree of obliquity of the front part 

 or toe, and of the upper surface, varies with the amount of 

 growth ; but where this has been counterbalanced by a 

 proper degree of wear, it will be remarked that this obliqui- 

 ty corresponds to the inclination of the pastern-bones im- 

 mediatel}' above the hoof, when the horse is standing-. 



"It will be obvious that this inclination also varies with 



