130 HORSESHOEING. 



it renders superfluous many other shoes specially designed for 

 various diseases of the hoof. It is made hke an ordinary flat 

 shoe, except that it requires a somewhat longer piece of iron ; 

 the ends of the branches are bent inward over a dull corner of 

 the anvil, bevelled, laid one over the other, and welded together 

 to form the bar. The width and thickness of the bar should be 

 the same as of the rest of the shoe, and its frog-surface should 

 be slightly concave. 



The bar-shoe is valuable, because it protects from pressure dis- 

 eased sections of the wall which have been laid free, allows part 

 of the body-weight to be borne by the frog, and restores normal 

 activity to the disturbed physiological movements of the foot. 

 By using it we can either gain a more extensive bearing- surface 

 for the hoof, or can make it easier for the surface that bears the 

 weight to do the work. If on account of weakness of the bearing- 

 surface of the hoof, or from any other cause, we wish to dis- 

 tribute the body-weight over the entire plantar surface of the 

 foot with the exception of the painful region, we add a leather 

 sole to the bar- shoe. 



In this case it is necessary to place holes in the ends of the 

 branches of the shoe, so that we may rivet the leather firmly to 

 the shoe with small nails. The shoe should be made somewhat 

 wider than the hoof, and the clips somewhat higher than usual. 

 After fitting the shoe the grooves for the clips are cut in the 

 leather, the latter is riveted to the shoe, and all leather projecting 

 beyond the outer edge of the shoe is trimmed away. The lacunse 

 of the frog and other concavities of the sole are then thickly 

 smeared with wood-tar and afterwards filled up with oakum to 

 such a degree that the packing will bear some of the body-weight 

 when the shoe and leather sole are in position. This packing is 

 of great importance, because it prevents the filtering in from be- 

 hind of sand and shme, preserves the toughness and pliability of 

 the horn, breaks shock, and produces a gradual expansion of the 

 posterior half of the hoof. Before nailing the shoe to the foot 

 the leather sole should be soaked in water. 



