NOTES ON SHOEING OF HORSES. 25 



Again, inasmuch as the sole when pared has 

 a tendency to get dry and hard, it is more hkely 

 when in this state to irritate and injure the sensitive 

 parts ahove, than if left unpared. 



The case is different when com has actually 

 formed, but this will be treated of under its proper 

 head hereafter. 



29. Opening of the heels is an old-fashioned, ^fS^^ 

 and happily now nearly abandoned practice. The 

 operation consists of cutting away about half an 

 inch of the crust on each side of the frog, and 

 also a portion of the frog. This practice had its 

 origin in some idea of giving room to the heels 

 to expand. 



It gives for a time an appearance of width at the 

 heels, and for that reason the practice is still resorted 

 to by dealers, but its ultimate effect must be, that 

 the heels, deprived of that portion of the crust 

 which would keep them apart, must collapse, or 

 " wire in," as the term is. 



When to the practice of so-called opening of the 

 heels is joined that of cutting away the bars, the 

 door to contraction is fairly open, and such a result 

 is only what might be expected. 



Dealers also frequently endeavour to produce an 

 appearance of open heels, by shoeing the horse 

 wide at the heels, that is, by making the inner edge 



