104 rOEGING AND ITS PEETENTIOK. 



" A horse forges by striking the outer rim of each side of the 

 shoe, just where it turns backward (near the toe), against the 

 inner rim of the fore shoe, just behind the quarters ; therefore, 

 the broader the toe of the hind shoe is made by the squaring 

 and the clips, the more likely the horse is to strike it against the 

 fore shoe. It happens in this way : the horse fails to carry his 

 fore foot forward quickly enough to get it out of the way of the 

 hind feet, and the toe of the hind shoe is thrust into the open- 

 ing of the stUl held up fore shoe, and the outer edge of the hind 

 shoe strikes against the inner rim of the fore shoe and produces 

 the sound. I have cured several horses of forging by merely 

 causing the corners of the artificially squared toe to be removed 

 and the toe restored to its natural form."* 



The above explanation, so far as it relates to the production 

 of the peculiar sound attending the act of forging is correct ; 

 the remedy, however, which Mr. Miles proposes for its removal 

 may in some instances destroy the striking of the rim of one 

 shoe against the rim of the other, but I strongly suspect, that 

 the real evil is not remedied in the least. Instead of the inner 

 rim of the fore foot shoe being struck, I believe the frog of the 

 foot will be struck ; and this not being attended with any sound, 

 the experimenter may be led to suppose that the evil is removed 

 when it is not, unless indeed it may be so far as it relates to 

 the mere noise of iron striking against iron ; but the real evil 

 caused by the striking of the feet against each other wiU remain 

 just as it was before. 



The plan usually adopted to remove this evil, and one 

 ■pfhich I consider preferable to what is suggested for the purpose 

 by Mr. Miles, is to place the hind foot shoe well back upon 

 the foot ; or in other words, instead of the shoe extending to the 



* W. Miles on Horse Shoeing. 



