Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/611

 thickness of the wall of the foot intended to be shod in this manner. M. Charlier insists that this instrument should only be employed to make the groove or trench for the reception of the shoe, the sole, frog, and bars not being allowed to be pared, but only relieved of the dead horn which is detached or projects in the region of the heels; and he wisely suggests that this boutoir might be replaced by a flat double or single rainette, provided with a guide. He gives a figure of an instrument of this kind, which resembles the English farrier's drawing-knife, the only difference being the presence of a stud fixed into its under surface near the curve or point, to prevent cutting too deeply into the margin of the sole. This contrivance, however, according to my experience, is imperfect, owing to the stud being a fixture, and not allowing any latitude to be observed in channelling into a large, small, thin, or strong hoof. My farrier-serjeant has devised a much safer and more convenient instrument in the form of a knife somewhat like the ordinary drawing-knife, but about one-half its length, with only about an inch of cutting edge at its extremity, the end of which, instead of turning over in a curve, stands up at nearly a right angle to the blade for about half an inch. The guide is a plate of iron about three inches long, narrower than the blade of the knife, with a slot or slit passing through the greater part of its length, and attached to the lower face of the instrument by two small screws—one of these a finger-screw, which stand in this slit, and are fixed into two holes in the knife. This arrangement, as will be readily understood, permits the cutting edge to be regulated from the extremity of the blade to the extent of an inch