FITTIXG THE SHOE. 27 



the foot downwards^, no ground in the world can 

 pull it off, for the foot, expanding to the weight 

 of the horse, enlarges the hole made by the shoe 

 and leaves more space for the shoe to come out of 

 than it made for itself to go in at; but if the 

 shoe projects bej'ond the hoof at any part, and more 

 ^particularly at the heels, the foot cannot fill the 

 hole made by the shoe, and stiff clay will cling 

 round the projection and pull the shoe off. 



Having so far finished the shoe, place it on the 

 face of the anvil with the toe hanging over the 

 side, and see that the foot-surface of the quarters 

 and heels are quite level; then make it hot enough 

 to scorch the hoof all round and form a bed for 

 itself; without this it would be next to impossible 

 to insure close fitting, for, after you have made 

 the foot as level as you can with the rasp and 

 the shoe as level as you can on the anvil, the 

 chances are very much against their fitting like two 

 planed boards, as they ought to do; and the quantity 

 of horn to be thus removed is so small as not to 

 be worth thinking about. It is a mistake to sup- 



