90 PARIKG AND EASPINa. 



from the sides of ttis organ. The constant attrition which 

 the frog undergoes when ia contact with the road, is sufficient 

 to control its size, without having recourse to a knife or a rasp 

 iu addition. 



A horse, in regular work upon hard roads, requires a set of 

 new shoes erery four weeks, and the old set removiag once 

 between. I know numbers of horses, however, which require 

 a set of new shoes every three weeks. Now, what with beiag 

 newly shod, and having the shoes removed in addition, and 

 from a smith cutting and rasping the feet so frequently (sup- 

 posing aU feet to grow at the rate of five-sixteenths of an inch 

 in a month, or one inch in three months), it is evident, unless 

 great care be exercised, that more horn may be removed than 

 can be grown between the periods of shoeing. Smiths frequently 

 boast of " opening the heels" with a view of causing the foot 

 to expand, when at the time they are perhaps committing an 

 irreparable mischief to the animal. 



Every master farrier ought to know the usual rate of growth 

 of the hoofs of every horse shod at his establishment, by which 

 means he would understand the strength of every hoof, and its 

 ordinary capability of resistance. He would also be able to 

 calculate the exact amount of horn which he could safely cut 

 or rasp away, without fear of injury to the foot.* It may here 

 be added, that the greater the thickness of the hoof and the 

 sole, the greater the security to the delicate structures within. 



* The means of attaining this knowledge are simple. Procure a small 

 three-edged file, and file a portion of the horn across its substance, a certain 

 distance — say one inch — from the coronet. Do this at the front of the hoof 

 and at the quarters ; then with a pair of compasses measure the distance of 

 the part filed from the junction of the hoof with the hair. Make a memo- 

 randum of the distance ; and every time the animal is shod, compare with 

 the first measurement. By this means the rate of growth of the hoof will 

 be readily known. 



