Another fault is fitting the foot to the shoe, frequently 

 using a shoe that is too small and rasping down the foot to fit 

 it. This is a diabolical practice, fatal to the last degree to 

 the life of the foot. The rasp should have no place in a 

 farrier's kit, unless it be for leveling the walls. The weight 

 of the horse should be borne upon the walls, whose edges 

 should rest upon the shoe. If these walls be rasped away, 

 and the weight thrown upon the sole, and the outer covering 

 of the foot destroyed so it will dry up and soon become in- 

 capable of holding the nails, what can be expected of the foot? 



An excellent plan for helping horses with contracted feet 

 is followed by a New England farrier with most beneficial 

 results. It is to level the upper surface of the shoe at the 

 heel before attaching it to the foot, the inner circle to be one- 

 sixteenth to one-fourth of an inch higher than the outer 

 circle. It will be seen that the walls of the foot rest thus 

 upon a surface which tends to spread them constantly. As 

 a result of this continued relaxed condition at the heel, the 

 frog is encouraged to grow, the bars to develop, and in a 

 few months the heel is seen to be changing its condition 

 materially. His unalterable rule is, " Never use the knife 

 to open the heel." 



Horses compelled to wear shoes should have them reset 

 as often as every three to four weeks, not alone for the com- 

 fort of the horse, but that his feet and general constitution 

 may remain uninjured. Insist upon small nails being used, 

 and as few of these as possible. The holes for the nails I 

 should not be made too near the edge of the shoe. If 

 punched further from the edge they take thicker and lower 

 hold of the walls of the hoof, and do not need to be driven 

 so high as to approach the sensitive part of the foot. With 

 a perfectly level bearing, three nails on either side will hold 

 the shoe firmly. With uneven fitting, however, the shoe 



