50 ESSAYS ON HORSE SUBJECTS 



shoeing will minimize the likelihood of injury- 

 being done by striking. 



The weighting of the shoe on the outside is 

 often recommended by having the outer branch 

 considerably heavier than the inner one, with the 

 idea that the weight on the outside makes a horse 

 go wider. This would, no doubt, be the ten- 

 dency, and provided it does not increase the 

 weight of the shoe too much, there is no objection 

 to it. 



Another plan sometimes followed is to raise 

 the inside of the foot higher than the outside, 

 with the idea that the fetlock of the leg on the 

 ground will be thrown outwards, and thus be 

 more likely to escape injury from the opposite 

 foot. This plan is irrational, from the fact that 

 it causes a horse to tread unevenly, and thus 

 tends to result in injury to some other part of 

 the leg, disturbing the relations of the various 

 parts that make up the weight-bearing column. 



In the front legs a three-quarter shoe is some- 

 times used, the shoe only coming half way round 

 on the inside, and not covering the ground sur- 

 face of the inner quarter. The difficulty about 

 this plan is getting the shoe so applied that all 

 the wall will bear its normal amount of weight. 

 It doesn't do to leave the inner quarter unsup- 

 ported, for in that case there will be tilting of 

 the leg inwards when the foot is put on the 



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