SHOEING. 195 



frog and cartilages would be placed between 

 two fixed points, and they would consequently 

 be bruised and inflamed. I have indeed seen 

 several cases of lameness produced iu this 

 way. Whenever the hoof, therefore, appears 

 to be too dry and strong, or to have lost it* 

 natural elasticity, it is necessary to rasp the 

 quarters, and keep the whole hoof moist, either 

 by applying several folds of flannel round the 

 coronet, constantly wetted, or by making the 

 horse stand in soft clay four or five hours du- 

 ring the day : by these means the natural 

 flexibility of the horn would be restored, and 

 the heels and quarters yield m a small degree, 

 whenever the horse's weight was thrown upom 

 the frog. 



Having said as much as appears to be requi- 

 site of the method of shoeing a sound foot,. I 

 shall proceed to describe those diseases of the 

 foot which render a different kind of shoe 

 necessary. In tlie first place it will be proper 

 to observe, that when a horse, even with a 

 sound foot, has worn shoes that are very thick, 

 or turned up at the heels, particularly if at 

 tlie same time the crust at the heels have been 

 suffered to grow so high that the frog is kept 

 at a considerable distance from the ground, k 



K 2 



