362 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



form the office cheapest. The first object with every one 

 should be to get the work well done, because it is 

 being '' penny wise and pound foolish " to have the 

 shoes of a horse ill fitted, for the saving of a few 

 pence. 



PREPARATION OF THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 



The first thing to be done by the smith is to re- 

 move the old shoe, and it is of importance to see that 

 this is performed in a careful and proper manner. 

 Some smiths are very careless and rash in removing 

 the shoe, and instead of turning up the points of the 

 nails tear off the shoe by force. The shoe is fixed to 

 the foot by nails which penetrate from the sole to the 

 upper surface of the hoof; these are broken off, 

 allowing sufficient length remaining to turn down and 

 be clenched into the horny substance. These clenches 

 should be carefully raised and rendered as straight as 

 possible, so that the nails may be pulled without in- 

 juring the hoof or increasing the dimensions of the 

 nail-holes. By thus v/renching off the shoe, there is 

 danger that some of the stubs may be left in the crust 

 and cause future lameness, or portions of the crust 

 itself may be torn off. In most cases, where such 

 violent treatment is practised, the horse exhibits by 

 his flinching that he suffers pain from it, and is the 

 too frequent cause of animals being troublesome to 

 shoe. 



When the shoe has been removed, the crust must 

 be rasped down in the edges ; and although a little 

 roughness may be exercised in this, yet there is little 

 danger of injury to the hoof, only that too much must 

 not be removed, so as to render it too thin. 



It sometimes happens that the horn of the sole 



