328 SHOEING HORSES. 



few days barefooted. It will not hurt him nor hurt his feet, 

 for the feet when sound and healthy — if the soles have been 

 left intact, as they should be — do not need any protection of 

 iron nailed on to them. 



If the horse's gait is smooth and even at the trot without 

 shoes, you have got him balanced. ]STow then, shoe him with 

 exactly the same weight of steel on each of his four feet. 

 That is, make the hind shoes of the same bar of steel that the 

 fore ones are made of. Why should you put more weight on 

 one foot than another, when your trotter is perfectly balanced 

 when barefooted. 



Never in shoeing pare the sole ; leave that and the frog un- 

 touched. If the feet are true and balanced, make the shoe of 

 the same thickness all around from heel to toe. With a per- 

 fectly leveled and balanced hind foot use no calks on the heels 

 of the shoes, as they will throw the foot out of balance. In 

 preparing the foot for the shoe do not with a knife touch either 

 the frog, sole, or bars. In removing surplus growth from the 

 wall of the foot to receive the shoe, use a rasp or cut nippers 

 and not a knife. 



Opening the heels or making a cut into the angle of the wall 

 at the heel should never be done. Care must be used that the 

 shoe is not fitted too small, the outside surface of the walls be- 

 ing then rasped down to make the foot to fit the shoe, as often 

 happens. 



A hot shoe should not be applied to a horse's foot under 

 any circumstances. Keep the foot level and as near the form 

 when shod as the natural colt foot as possible. Again, I say, 

 never cut the frog in shoeing ; nature intended it to remain soft 

 and spongy. It is in reality the lung of the foot — it is just 

 what the leaves are to the trees, and requires no pruning. No 

 matter how pliable and soft the frog may be, if cut away on all 

 sides, in two or three days it will become dry and as hard as a 

 chip. 



If a red-hot shoe were put upon the foot to burn it level, 



