80 SHOEING. 



horn left in the sole to make it properly concave : 

 then with the drawing-knife cut away the horn, till, 

 by the strong pressure of your own or the Nolband's 

 thumb, you can feel the sole bend up towards the cor- 

 ners, as well as the fore-part : this is the guide for all 

 feet worth the expense of shoeing. If more is cut 

 away, the horse will be tender, perhaps lamed : if less 

 is taken off, he will require shoeing again in a fortnight. 

 When the foot is not softened before going to the 

 Nolband's, either by cow-dung stopping for the two 

 previous days, or by being soaked in water two 

 or three hours before shoeing, or by cloths wrapped 

 round the coronet, and warm water poured on them 

 for that time, a great deal tqo much horn may be cut 

 away before the sole will yield. A fine flaky foot will 

 often show of itself the proper quantity to be taken 

 off; but others again would suffer ; besides, the hoof 

 being moistened, adds to the nails taking firm hold, 

 and prevents the horn splintering ; the foot, moreover, 

 is shod in half the time, and the Nolband saved from 

 a gash in his arm. The horn between the bars and 

 the crust having been cut away with the drawing- 

 knife, a full sixth of an inch of depth must be left up 

 in the corner where the bar and crust join. Never 

 cut away the horn between the bar"' 5 " and the frog, 

 but cut away a little of the very hindermost part of 



* For mercy's sake ! learn where the bars are, for the manner in which Eng- 

 lish farriers, as well as Nolbands, cut them away at this part is disgraceful. 

 The English farrier calls it opening the heels ; and I have seen them retrograde 

 into this most destructive method of cutting, a few months after losing the 

 supervision of a veterinary surgeon. The bars are the finish of the crust, of 

 harder horn than the sole, and a different shade of colour ; they never run down 

 straight, but curve, as shown at p. 26 in the description of feet ; and the place 

 for opening the heels is not in the middle of the bars, where the Nolband side- 

 ways scoops them half way, but opposite the heel of the shoe, behind where 

 the bar and crust join. 



