and has made up his mind just
where and how much horn must be removed to leave the hoof of proper
length and the foot axis straight.

A greatly overgrown hoof may be quickly shortened with sharp nippers and
the sole freed of semidetached flakes of horn. The concave sole of a
thick-walled, strong hoof may be pared out around the point of the frog,
but not so much as to remove all evidences of exfoliation. The wall
should be leveled with the rasp till its full thickness, the white line,
and an eighth of an inch of the margin of the sole are in one horizontal
plane, called the "bearing surface of the hoof." The bars, if long, may
be shortened, but _never pared on the side_. The branches of the sole in
the angle between the bars and the wall of the quarters should be left a
little lower than the wall, so as not to be pressed upon by the inner
web of the shoe. "Corns," or bruises of the pododerm, are usually a
result of leaving a thick mass of dry, unyielding horn at this point.
The frog should not be touched further than to remove tags or layers
that are so loose as to form no protection. A soft frog will shorten
itself spontaneously by the exfoliation of superficial layers of horn,
while if the frog is dry, hard, and too prominent it is better to soften
it by applying moisture in some form, and to allow it to wear away
naturally than to pare it down. It is of advantage to have the frog
project below the level of the wall an amount equal to the thickness of
a plain shoe, though we rarely see frogs of such size except in draft
horses. The sharp lower border of the wall should be rounded with the
rasp to prevent its being bent outward and broken away. Finally, the
foot is set to the ground and again observed from all sides to make
sure, that the lines bounding the hoof correspond with the direction of
the long pastern.

THE SHOE.

The shoe is an artificial base of support, by no means ideal, because it
interferes to a greater or less degree with the physiology of the foot,
but indispensable except for horses at slow work on soft ground. Since a
proper surface of support is of the greatest importance in preserving
the health of the feet and legs, it is necessary to consider the various
forms of shoes best adapted to the different forms of hoofs. Certain
properties are common to all shoes and may be considered first. They are
form, width, thickness, length, surfaces, borders, "fullering," nail
holes, and clips.

_Form._