EXAMINATION OF HOOF BEFORE SHOEING. 577 



distribution of the nails. Does the shoe fully cover the entire lower 

 border of the wall? or is it too narrow, or fitted so full on the inside 

 that it has given rise to interfering? or has the shoe been nailed on 

 crooked ? or has it become loose and shifted ? is it too short, or so wide 

 aft the ends of the branches as not to support the buttresses of the 

 hoof? Does the shoe correspond with the form of the hoof? Are 

 the nails distributed so as to interfere as little as possible with the 

 expansion of the quarters? are there too many? are they too large? 

 driven too "fine" or too high? These are questions which the 

 observer should put to himself. 



Note carefully the wear of the old shoe. It is the unimpeachable 

 evidence of the manner in which the hoof has been set to the ground 

 since the shoe was nailed to it, and gives valuable " pointers " in lev- 

 eling the hoof. Wear is the effect of friction between the shoe and the 

 ground' at the mioment of contact. Since the properly leveled hoof 

 is set flat to the ground, the " grounding wear " of a shoe should be 

 uniform at every point, though the toe will always show wear due 

 to scouring at the moment of " breaking over." Everything which 

 tends to lengthen the stride tends also to make the " grounding wear " 

 more pronounced in the heels of the shoe, while all causes which 

 shorten the stride — as stiffening of the limbs through age, overwork, 

 or disease — bring the grounding wear nearer the toe. 



An exception should be noted, however, in founder, in which the 

 ' grounding wear is most pronounced at the heels. 



If one branch of the shoe is found to be worn much thinner than 

 the other, the thinner branch has either been set too near the middle 

 line of the foot (fitted too close) , where it has been bearing greater 

 weight while rubbing against the ground, or, what is much more 

 often the case, the section of wall above the thinner branch has been 

 too long (too high) , or the opposite section of wall has been too short 

 (too low) . " One-sided wear, uneven setting down of the feet, and an 

 unnatural course of the wall are often found together." How much 

 an old shoe can tell us, if we take time and pains to decipher its scars ! 



The horse should next be observed at a walk and at a trot or pace, 

 from in front, from behind, and from the side, and the " breaking 

 over," the carriage of the feet, and the manner of setting them to the 

 ground carefully noted and remembered. A horse does not always 

 move just as his standing position would seem to imply. Often there 

 is so great a difference in the form and slant of two fore hoofs or two 

 hind hoofs that we are in doubt as to their normal shape, when a few 

 steps at a trot will usually solve the problem instantly by showing us 

 the line of flight of the hoofs and referring them to the regular, base- 

 wide, or base-narrow form. 



No man is competent either to shoe a horse or to direct the work 

 till he has made the precited observations. 



H. Doc. 795, 59-2 37 



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