122 THE HORSE 



toe and that therefore if the walls are pared down 

 to their proper shape and no more, the frog will 

 still be raised a little from the ground. This is 

 generally true, and so the whole shoe should be 

 heated and hammered out till the heel is slightly 

 thinner than the toe. This, if properly done, will 

 keep the bottom of the foot level, elevating neither 

 the toe nor the heel, and will permit the frog to 

 press upon the ground as it should. The shoe 

 should be a trifle wider than the foot at the heel 

 and should project backward beyond the heel a 

 little — say, an eighth to a quarter of an inch on 

 moderate-sized horses and a little more on larger 

 ones. 



This I have found the best of all ways to obtain 

 frog pressure. The means most frequently em- 

 ployed are to use tips ( shoes that protect only the 

 forward part of the foot, leaving the whole after 

 part to bear upon the ground.) But the great 

 objection to tips is that, as the great majority of 

 smiths put them on, they raise the toe and depress 

 the heel — which is a bad thing for the horse and 

 fully offsets any advantage they may bestow. In 

 using full-length shoes this trouble is avoided. 

 Often the method works like magic, and horses 

 that have been constantly becoming lame from 

 corns or bruised heels, when shod this way, show 

 immediate improvement and travel off like entirely 



