HORSESHOEING. 



595 



of the frog, form of the shoe, wear of the shoe, and the number and 

 distribution of the nails. Does the shoe fully cover the entire lower 

 border of the wall? or is it too narrow, or fitted so full on the inside 

 that it has given rise to interfering? or has the shoe been nailed on 

 crooked ? or has it become loose and shifted ? is it too short, or so wide 

 at the ends of the branches as not to support the buttresses of the 

 hoof? Does the shoe correspond with the form of the hoof? Are 

 the nails distributed so as to interfere as little as possible with the 

 expansion of the quarters? are there too many? are they too large? 

 driven too "fine" or too high? These are questions which the 

 observer should put to himself. 



Note carefully the wear of the old shoe. It is the unimpeachable 

 evidence of the manner in which the hoof has been set to the ground 

 since the shoe was nailed to it, and gives valuable " pointers " in lev- 

 eling the hoof. Wear is the effect of friction between the shoe and the 



Fru. 6. — a. Side rieTP of foot with the foot-axis broken backward as a result of too long a 

 toe. The amount of horn to be removed from the toe in order to straighten the foot- 

 axis is denoted by a dotted line ; 6, side view of a properly balanced foot, with a 

 straight foot-axis of desirable slant ; c, side view of stumpy foot with foot-axis broken 

 foiTvard, as a result of overgrowth of the quarters. The amount of horn to be removed 

 in order to straighten the foot-axis is shown by a dotted line. 



ground at the moment of contact. Since the properly leveled hoof 

 is set flat to the ground, the " grounding wear " of a shoe should be 

 uniform at every point, though the toe will always show wear due to 

 scouring at the moment of " breaking over." Everything which 

 tends to lengthen the stride tends also to make the " grounding 

 wear " more pronounced in the heels of the shoe, while all causes 

 which shorten the stride — as stiffening of the limbs through age, 

 overwork, or disease — bring the grounding wear nearer the toe. 



An exception should be noted, however, in founder, in which the 

 grounding wear is most pronounced at the heels. 



If one branch of the shoe is found to be worn much thinner than 

 the other, the thinner branch has either been set too near the middle 

 line of the foot (fitted too close), where it has been bearing greater 

 weight while rubbing against the ground, or, what is much more 

 often the case, the section of wall above the thinner branch has been 



