THE FORM AND MANUFACTURE OF SHOES. 51 



surface of the foot, or a narrow rim fixed merely round 

 the lower borJer of the wall. Experience teaches that 

 these primitive forms can be modified with advantage, 

 and that certain patterns are specially adapted to our 

 artificial conditions. A good workman requires no 

 directions as to how he should work, and it is doubtful 

 if a bad one would be benefited by any written rules; 

 but it should be noted that a well-made shoe may be bad 

 for a horse's foot, whilst a very rough, badly-made one 

 may, when properly fitted, be a useful article. To make 

 and apply horse-shoes a man must be more than a clever 

 work«r in iron — he must be a farrit^r, and that necessitates 

 a knowledge of the horse's foot and the form of shoe best 

 adapted to its wants. 



Weight of Shoes. — The lighter a shoe can be made 

 the better. Weight is a disadvantage we are obliged to 

 put up with to obtain wear, for the frequent removal of 

 shoes is only a little less injurious to the hoof than 

 working with none at all. It is not io be understood that 

 the heaviest shoe gives the most wear; on the contrary, a 

 heavy shoo may have the iron so distributed as to incroasa 

 the rapidity of wear, and a shoe of half the weight 

 properly formed may last longer. It is no uncommon 

 thing to find worn-out shoes still weighing m.ore than a 

 new shoe which will, on the same horse, give a longer 

 period of wear. When a horse wears his shoes out very 

 rapidly, the indication to the farrior is not simply to 

 increase the weight, but to see if he can obtain more wear 

 l)y aJtoring the form and distributing the iron in a 

 <lifi;Grerit way. A tired horse wears his shoes much more 

 rapidly than a f re.sli and active one. Continued slipx'ing 

 weiirs avray a shoe oat of all proportion to the work done 

 by a horse having a firm foot-hold. These two different 

 <jonditions may be partially due to the shoes, for a heavy 

 shoe tires the leg, and broad flat shoes favour slipping. 

 Some horses wear one special part of the shoe excessively 

 — as a rule, either i:t the toe or the heel — and this is better 

 met by turning up the worn part out of the line of wear 

 than by thickening it and so increasing weight. Besides, 



