ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 145 



Rasp the wall down level with the sole. 



This is to remove the irregularities left by the pincers, and 

 insure for the shoe a bearing surface on both sole and wall. 

 When the surface has been made level, blunt the sharp outer 

 edge of the crust with the rasp. 



It has been advocated that the elasticity of the horse's foot 

 is increased by cutting away the bars — :" opening out the heels," 

 it is called. This practice is common enough to make necessary 

 the following rule: 



The bars are not to be cut away. 



The bars are Nature's support against contraction of the 

 heels and must on no account be cut away. Nor must the sole 

 in the space between the bars and the wall be cut away. This 

 filling-in of the interspace acts as a support to the bars and wall 

 against contraction of the heels. The practice of opening the 

 heels cannot be too severely condemned. 



The frog, if healthy, is not to be pared or even 

 trimmed. 



The frog, like the sole, requires only to be let alone. It is 

 Nature's pad, or cushion, to lessen concussion in the upper struct- 

 ures when the foot comes to the ground. It can never grow 

 too big. It thrives on concussion. If pared, and thereby de- 

 prived of use, it dwindles away. 



The frog, when well developed, also acts as a stay against 

 slipping. A good sound frog is a better stay than calks. If 

 the frog has become injured and is ragged, the ragged parts only 

 should be carefully cut away. 



Do not burn out a seat for the shoe with a hot shoe. 



The seat of the shoe may be lightly touched with the hot 

 shoe to mark its inequalities. The marked portions should then 

 be rasped down. To burn out a seat for the shoe dries up the 

 horn of sole and wall, kills living cells that are necessary to the 

 strength of the hoof, and causes the sole to dry out and shrink 

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