Page:Horses and roads.djvu/120

 104 foot is almost impenetrable, and so hard and strong that it protects the inner or sensible sole from all harm. In many instances (though I am glad to say not so much in the present time as formerly) farriers were in the habit of paring away the natural sole, and making what they called “a clean foot,” and cut so thin that the thumb could almost leave an impression. Consequently, when the horse was required to go over a new made road, either gravel or macadam, he would naturally go “tender;” whereas if the sole had been left intact, and the loose, rough parts taken off with the drawing knife, the sole of the horse’s foot would have been protected.’ It is disagreeable, and will be thought presumptuous, for the writer to feel himself obliged to differ from the colonel, and to state that experience has taught him that even these loose, rough flakes, of either frog or sole, should never be touched: they are going through the natural process of exfoliation, and should be left to complete that process spontaneously, and without any help from the knife.

We must again cite this estimable writer: ‘The crust of the hoof is pared to a certain level, and then a hot shoe is placed upon it to burn away the hoof until the two surfaces correspond, thereby heating the outer (?) crust of the hoof and rendering it brittle, and liable to break away, when the nails are introduced for the purpose of holding on the shoe. There is another thing most injurious to the foot, and that is blacking the outside of the hoof. Generally speaking, grease and lampblack are