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Shoeing of Horses. 



[march, 



should the horse overreach. For a hunter with flat foot or 

 drop sole the ordinary fullered shoe, seated out on the foot 

 surface, having the under side hollowed out with a file, and 

 the heels well tapered, is to be recommended. 



The Shoeing of Hackney or Carriage Horses. — -This class 

 of horse, being used chiefly for road work, requires a broader 

 webb shoe than the hunter, and should also be fitted longer 

 at the heel. Six nail holes will suffice for this class of shoe. 

 Ordinary roadsters should be shod with a plain stamped shoe 

 if under 5J inches in width. If this dimension is exceeded, 

 however, a fullered shoe must be employed. Should the 

 horse prove a stumbler it will be advisable to roll or "dubb " 

 the toe of the shoe, which must be kept quite short. In the 

 case of a horse forging, an irregularity which might possibly 

 be due to some weakness in the structure of the foot, the use 

 of a concave shoe is to be recommended, and the use of 

 caulkins in cases of this kind is to be condemned, as they 

 tend to aggravate this evil. 



Diseases of the Horse'§ Foot .—The foot is liable to a num- 

 ber of diseases in regard to which it is usually desirable that 

 the advice of a veterinary surgeon should be obtained, but it 

 is necessary that a farrier should have sufficient acquaintance 

 with them to enable him to recognise, and, if necessary, treat 

 them in their early stages. In the courses given by the 

 County Council Instructors these subjects are included, but 

 only two of the more simple affections need be mentioned 

 here. 



Corns. — These may be described as a bruised portion of 

 the foot lying between the wall and the angle of the heel 

 (Fig. 2), and may make their appearance in cases where the 

 foot has been badly prepared or the toe left too long. Another 

 cause is the use of badly-fitted shoes, and the animal may go 

 lame. A shoe thinned on the inside heel should be fitted, 

 or if corns are found on both heels, a bar shoe may be 

 used. 



Sandcracks. — A sandcrack is a fissure in the wall or crust 

 of the foot, and usually appears on the inside of the fore foot 

 and on the front or toe of the hind foot. In most cases the 

 appearance of these fissures may be attributed to a natural 

 brittleness of the wall, more often than not due to the evil 



