08 ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEIKa. 



A horse's deformed foot. 



Fig". 59 shows the foot of a colt which was ruined by not 

 cutting- the heel for five years. 



I have frequently had horsemen come into my shop and 

 say, " Don't cut the heel any, cut the toe but not the heel." 



The horse whose foot is shown in the engraving- was 

 spoiled by his owner, who insisted that nothing should be 

 cut from the heels. 



The poor blacksmith, however, Avas the man who had to 

 stand the blame. 



When the heel is left too hig'h the horse's foot is thrown 

 over in .front, bending- it up and throwing- the pastern 

 bones and coffin-bone out of position. Instead of keeping- 

 their natural position, these bones, in the example under 

 consideration, had been thrown into a vertical position. In 

 shoeing- a liorse the heel must be cut down just as much as 

 any other part of the foot. Of course there are naturally 

 high heels and naturally low heels. A horse-shoer, if he 

 understands his business, will know just as soon as he 

 picks up the foot about how much to cut off and where to 

 cut. I have seen horses ruined by cutting- the heel too 

 much. If the foot, however, is kept at an angle of about 53 

 degrees, it Avill not be very far out of the way. 



FOOT AVITH SECTION OF WALL REMOVED. 



Fig. GO represents a dark colored foot. It is a curious 

 fact that a light colored foot has a thinner shell than a 

 dark colored foot. The piece from A to B in the illustra- 

 tion represents the outside crust or wall and laminas taken 



