CHAP. IV.] IRON DEFENCE, WHEN TOO MUCH. 489 



wall very thick, and the shoe will require a good 

 bearing; if very thin, it cannot carry a heavy shoe, 

 though it stands most in need of defence. Again, 

 the horn of some horses' feet is so well-tempered 

 and stout, that they might be permitted to go with- 

 out shoes without danger, if not worked upon 

 stony roads. Time, however, and hard work, and 

 the heat of the blood, occasion brittle hoof, and 

 distortions, with numerous disorders that attach to 

 the foot generally, or belong to the sole only. 



When these ailments begin to show their effects, 

 the actual shoe-maker, or " fire-man," as he is 

 called, must adapt his work according to the new 

 pattern thus cut out for him, and here begins his 

 ingenuity : in some extraordinary cases he will even 

 have to adopt a different shaped defence for the 

 same set of feet ; but in all cases, and under every 

 circumstance, he must fasten them on firmly to the. 

 horny wall of the foot by nailing and clenching ; he 

 who performs this office being termed the " door- 

 man" in London, where labour of every kind is 

 very much subdivided. Both will find, in the 

 ensuing pages, that we have not been unmindful of 

 the duties they have to perform. To the latter of 

 these men falls the task of preparing the hoof to 

 receive the shoe, by removing the superabundant 

 horn ; but if horn do not so abound, he should cut 

 away scarcely any, lest the defence come off for 

 want of sufficient attachment. What is worse, by 

 paring the sole inordinately, the bones within are 

 pressed out of position when the animal again puts 



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