ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEING. 95 



Simply because I could dress and level a horse's foot a 

 great deal easier that way than I could with a file or rasp. 

 Now the sensitive laminai of the horse's foot between the 

 shell and the lining- of the foot is similar to the sensitive 

 portion under the human finger-nail, and just as far as the 

 heat goes it kills the sensitive lamini^ and burns them out. 

 After we get the laminae burnt out on both sides, of the foot 

 to the depth of the thickness of the sole, if the hoi'se hap- 

 pens to be very heav}^, the sole is forced down and then we 

 say he is in the first stages of founder. I have foundered 

 at least five hundred horses in ni}^ life with hot shoes and 

 nothing else. I don't allow myself or any man under my 

 instruction to touch a hot shoe to any horse's foot. 



The foot should be perfectly level in all cases, and the 

 shoe should be made perfectly level before applying it to 

 the foot. All we take off from the foot we take off from the 

 bottom of the foot, and never set the shoe back and chop all 

 the way around the outside. When this is done all the 

 strength of the shell around the outside is cut awa^^ and 

 this will cripple the best horse in the world. This is a 

 great mistake. 



For twenty-one years I used to fit the foot to the shoe 

 and not the shoe to the foot. The first thing I used to do 

 after pulling off a shoe was to cut the heels down. After I 

 got the heels cut down low enough to suit me I would put 

 my buttress or knife in one side of the frog and cut that 

 side down. Then I would cut the other side down and if 

 the man was paying me a little extra price why I would 

 cut it all out. Now the frog does not want to be touched 

 with a knife at all. 



