ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEING. 43 



into its proper condition. I use this particular shoe for 

 all bad cases of contraction or Avhere, as some shoers term 

 it, the foot is hoof hound. I rasp the points of the heels down 

 so that when the shoe is on there is a little space between the 

 heels and the shoe, the pressure of the bar coming- on the 

 frog-. When the horse steps the weight comes on the bar, 

 the bar presses on the frog and the frog will settle enough 

 to let the heels down easily upon the shoe. Under these 

 circumstances of course the heel will naturallj^ expand more 

 or less and the contraction after a time be relieved. 



I am not in favor of artificial spreaders of any kind. I 

 believe the frog to be the best spreader in the world. 



No clip is used whatever and in fact I have not put a clip 

 on any shoe in the last six years. Man^^ shoers seem to 

 think they cannot get along without using side clips and toe 

 clips. Wherever a clip is used it is necessar^^, of course, to 

 cut through the outside wall. The clip rests on the sensi- 

 tive laxnin^e and ever^^ time a horse strikes anything" hard 

 there is irritation of the blood vessels, arteries and nerves. 

 If we dress the foot perfectly level, fitting the shoes cold 

 and using a good nail there is no trouble in making them 

 stay on longer in fact than they ought to stay. 



No horse should keep shoes on over four or five weeks at 

 the outside without having them removed and the dry fe- 

 verish overgrowth cut awaj^ 



TOE TIPS. 



Fig. 13 represents a toe tip. This form of shoe comes 

 the nearest to nature of any one made. By its use it will 

 be seen that the quarters and frog come in contact with the 



