Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/514

 nourishment from the vascular sole; its softness and pliancy are due to its thickness, and its nourishment is diminished, while it becomes harder, in direct proportion to the thinness we give it; we even see horses whose soles are pared, habitually lame. The air, when the sole is in this state of thinness, penetrates and dries it to such a degree, that if care is not taken to keep it damp when the animal is in a dry place, it contracts and presses on the vascular sole; so that, if some time after we wish to pare the sole again, it is not possible to do so, because it is so hard and dry that the boutoir will not touch it, and the horse goes lame. . . . What risk does a horse not incur who has nearly been deprived of his soles through this paring! If he encounters stones, broken glass, or nails, these easily penetrate to the sensitive sole, and cripple him for a long time, if not for ever.

'When a horse loses a shoe—a circumstance frequently occurring, and if the hoof is pared, the animal cannot walk a hundred steps without going lame; because in this state the lower surface of the foot being hollowed, the horse's weight falls on the crust, and this having no support from the horny sole, is quickly broken and worn away; and if he meets hard substances on the road, he all the more speedily becomes lame. It is not so when the sole is allowed to retain its whole strength. The shoe comes off, but the sole and frog rest on the ground, assist the crust in bearing the greater part of the weight of the body, and the animal, though unshod, is able to pursue his journey safe and sound.

'It is a fact that every horse, except those which have the feet diseased and soles convex, and to which shoes are