SHOEING 121 



the horse's entire weight. The structure of the 

 foot, too, is somewhat modified, the frog being 

 more or less shrunken and the whole foot drier 

 and harder than in the unshod horse. 



Now this departure from natural conditions is 

 undesirable and usually unnecessary. It should 

 be remembered that the object of the shoe is 

 simply to protect the horse's foot from wearing 

 away and becoming sore on a surface harder than 

 that upon which he would travel in a state of 

 nature and that its natural shape and functions 

 should be interfered with as little as possible. It 

 should be as close to the ground as conditions will 

 permit and the frog should bear directly upon it. 



Except in winter, when calks are necessary to 

 keep the horse from slipping on the ice, the shoe 

 should be entirely flat. It should be fitted very 

 nicely to the shape of the foot, so that the walls 

 bear evenly upon it all round, except from the 

 bars back to the heel. Here it should be " eased " 

 a little so that the pressure will be less than in 

 other places. Corns are very likely to result if 

 this is not done. 



The shoe should be so put on as to allow the 

 frog to bear a little upon the ground. With 

 most shoers this requirement is the hardest of all 

 to have carried out. The smith will point out to 

 you that the heel of the shoe is thicker than the 



