228 HOW TO SHOE A UORSE, 



protection • wMle the latter case offers tlie most favorable 

 surface ttat most of our horses ever have to travel upon, 

 and should be taken advantage of for a thorough paring 

 out of the sole, in order that the internal parts of the foot 

 may derivo the full benefit arising from an elastic and de« 

 ecending sole; a state of things very essential to the due 

 perf,)nnance of their separate functions. Again: in horses 

 with upright feet and high heels, horn grows very abun 

 dantly, especially towards the toe ; and such are always 

 benefited by having the toe shortened, the heels lowered, 

 and the sole well pared out ; while in horses with flat feet 

 and low heels horn grows sparingly ; and the toe of such 

 feet, being always weak, will admit of very little shorten- 

 ing. Such heels being already too low, should scarcely be 

 touched with the rasp ; and the sole presents such a small 

 quantity of dead horn, that the knife should be used with 

 great discretion. 



The corners formed by the junction of the crust and bars 

 should be well pared out, particularly on the inside ; for 

 this is the common seat of corn, and any accumulation of 

 horn in this situation must increase the risk of bruising 

 the sensible sole between the inner point or heel of the 

 coffin bone and the horny sole. I very much doubt either 

 the utility or wisdom of leaving the bars projecting beyond 

 the surface of the sole ; it cannot possibly increase the 

 power of resisting contraction, and this projecting rim is 

 left exposed to the danger of being broken and bruised by 

 contact with stones and other hard substances ; and it is 

 ftirther attended with the disadvantage of making the 

 cleaning out of these corners a work of considerable inge- 

 nuity with so unwieldy an instrument as a common draW' 

 ing-knife. I prefer paring them down to a level with the 

 Bolc, or very nearly so ; avoiding, however, every approach 

 to what is called " opening out the heels." a most repre- 



