HOESiESHOEING. 597 



touched further than to remove tags or layers that are so loose as to 



form no protection. A soft frog will shorten itself spontaneously 



by the exfoliation of superficial layers of horn, while if the frog is 



dry, hard, and too prominent it is better to soften it by applying 



moisture in some form, and to allow it to wear away naturally than 



to pare it down. It is of advantage to have the frog project below 



the level of the wall an amount equal to the thickness of a plain 



shoe, though we rarely see frogs of such size except in draft horses. 



The sharp lower border of the wall should be rounded with the rasp 



to prevent its being bent outward and broken away. Finally, the 



foot is set to the ground and again observed from all sides to make 



sure that the lines bounding the hoof correspond with the direction 



of the long pastern. 



THE SHOE. 



The shoe is an artificial base of support, by no means ideal, because 

 it interferes to a greater or less degree with the physiology of the 

 foot, but indispensable except for horses at slow work on soft 

 ground. Since a proper surface of support is of the greatest im- 

 portance in preserving the health of the feet and legs, it is necessary 

 to consider the various forms of shoes best adapted to the different 

 forms of hoofs. Certain properties are common to all shoes and may 

 be considered first. They are form, width, thickness, length, sur- 

 faces, borders,- " fullering," nail holes, and clips. 



Form. — Every shoe should have the form of the hoof for which it 

 is intended, provided the hoof retains its proper shape ; but for every 

 hoof that has undergone change of form we must endeavor to give the 

 shoe that form which the hoof originally possessed. Front shoes and 

 hind shoes, rights and lefts, should be distinctly different and easily 

 distinguishable. 



^Yidth. — ^AU shoes should be wider at the toe than at the ends of 

 the branches. The average width should be about double the thick- 

 ness of the wall at the toe. 



TMehness. — The thickness should be sufficient to make the shoe last 

 about four weeks and should be uniform except in special cases. 



Length. — This will depend upon the obliquity of the hoof viewed in 

 profile. The acute-angled hoof (fig. 5a) has long overhanging heels, 

 and a considerable proportion of the weight borne by the leg falls in 

 the posterior half of the hoof. For such a hoof the branches of the 

 shoe should extend back of the buttresses to a distance nearly double 

 the thickness of the shoe. For a hoof of the regular form (figs. 5& 

 and 8) the branches should project an amount equal to the thickijess 

 of the shoe. In a stumpy hoof (fig. f>c) the shoe need not project 

 more than one-eighth of an inch. In all cases the shoe should cover 

 the entire "bearing surface" of the wnll. 



