FITTING AND APPLICATION OF SHOES. 7^ 



from tlie center to the circumference like a saucer, and 

 the two spoiled articles were fitted together. Their sur- 

 faces of contact were two narrow ridges, which even the 

 most expert workman could not fit without injury to the 

 Jiorse. 



Fig. 53. — Section of a "saucer" shoe. 



In Fig. 53, a shoe with an inclined surface is applied 

 to a foot with a bearing-surface as wide as the wall, but 

 the only contact is at the edges. The horn at the edge 

 will yield, and the hoof be pressed inwards, as the weight 

 of the animal forces the foot into the saucer-shaped shoe. 

 When the bearing-surface of the foot, instead of being 

 as wide as the wall, is only a ridge, the horn yields more 

 rapidly, the\clinches rise and the shoe becomes loose. 



In Fig. 54 is shown a section of another shoe with an 

 inclined instead of a level surface, bat the slope is from, 

 within outwards. The effect of this is exactly the oi^po- 

 site of the previous shoe. The wall is forced outwards, 

 and if it does not as a whole yield to the pressure, the 

 X^ortion in contact is broken. When this form of bear- 

 ing-surface is adopted at the heels of a shoe, the two 

 sides of the hoof are violently forced apart, and it has 

 even been recommended as a means of expanding the 

 foot; but forcible expansion is both unnecessary and dan- 

 .gerous. 



Always regarding the shoe as an extension of the 

 natural hoof in a harder and more durable material, it is 

 evident that the most stability will be attained by tha 



