678 



SHOEING. 



not to excite inflammation or soreness. It would not do for a 

 man accustomed to wearing boots for years to suddenly go bare- 

 foot on rough, hard ground. The skin on the feet is so thin that 

 they would be made sore, and be liable to serious inflammation. 

 In like manner it would not be prudent to bring the heels and 

 frog of a horse's foot, that has long been accustomed to the protec- 

 tion of thick shoes, sud- 

 denly to the ground. If 

 there is but little contrac- 

 tion, with fairly good con- 

 dition of the feet, all that 

 will be necessary to do is to 

 level down the feet, and 

 remove any surplus of old 

 horn from the sole, put on 

 thin-heeled shoes, and keep 

 the feet soft by moisture. 

 The next simplest and 

 best method would be to 

 use the convex shoe. After 

 leveling and trimmiDg out 

 the foot properly, as before 

 explained, cut away or 

 vveaken the arch between the bars and frog sufficiently to allow 

 of some elasticity of the quarters, then fit the heels nicely to the 

 bearing surface of the shoe. In doing this, care should be taken 

 to leave them sufficiently deep to enable matching the bevel of the 

 shoe nicely without cutting away or lowering the wall too much. 

 No horn should be left projecting inside, as it would form a wall 

 against the inner edge of the shoe, and prevent the heels from 

 spreading. Of course no nails should be driven back in the quar- 

 ters. As before explained, the frog should gradually be given con- 

 tact with the ground. As the quarters are opened, the shoe can 

 be taken off, made larger, and reset, until the foot is reasonably 

 expanded, when a level bearing surface may again be used. 



But for anything like a bad condition of contraction, more di- 

 rect and positive treatment will be necessary. For example, if 

 the foot is badly contracted, the frog small, and sole forced upward 

 acutely, the whole internal structure, in fact, locked and tied, as 



FIG. 507. Bearing surface of convex shoe. 



