Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/550

  of the sole between the whole length of the bars and crust.

'29. The sole should be made concave at the toe, with a drawing-knife, in all cases where the horn is sufficiently thick to admit of such removal.

'30. The internal surface of the shoe may be flat whenever the whole of the sole is concave, and will admit of a picker between a flat shoe and the sole.

'31. When the interior portion of the sole is thin, or fat, or convex, and cannot be made concave, the shoe at this part should be made concave.

'32. As the crust, in flat feet, is always thin, the shoe at the toe should have a very small seat, only equal to the nails.

'33. As the sole at the quarters, even in flat or convex hoofs, will very generally admit of removal, the quarters and heels of the shoes will be flat.

'34. That while the quarters and heels of the shoe, on the upper surface, are flat, the concavity of the shoe at the toe has no kind of influence in contracting the heels.

'35. The external surface of the shoe should be regularly concave, to correspond to the form of the sole and crust, before the horse is shod.

'36. This external concavity of the shoe is well calculated to embrace the ground, and to prevent the horse from slipping.

'37. The relative thickness of the shoe, at the toe and heel, should be particularly attended to.

'38. The wear of the shoe, at the toe of the fore-feet, is generally three times greater than the consumption of iron at the heels.