them and the shoe, however, is rasped away, and the face of the foot presents a rounded or knobbed appearance very unlike its natural outline. In all probability, the whole external surface up to the coronet is tastefully rasped and polished, the varnish-like covering nature had spread over it is carefully removed,[1] and the fibres beneath are more or less damaged, are exposed to desiccation, and shrink; while below the clenches they have been entirely destroyed, and nothing is left to support the nails holding on the shoe but the thin soft fibres, as fragile almost as the pith of a rush, and which were never intended by nature to be exposed. Consequently, they lose their moisture, wither, chip, crack, and break off, and frequently the shoe is lost, and with it a large portion of the hoof.
The same process goes on with the sole and frog. The young horn, prematurely exposed, cannot resist the effects of evaporation, and shrinks in the same way. At each shoeing the same routine is followed by the farrier, and the horn is often so hard that artificial means must be adopted to soften it, in order to get off a sufficient quantity to allow the sole to spring under the thumb.
In this we cannot altogether blame the farrier; he is only carrying out the ideas of men who have published books on shoeing. Can we wonder that it soon becomes necessary to adopt every means to supply artificially that which has been removed so indiscreetly. Heavy iron shoes with plenty of cover to defend the morbidly sensitive horn of the soles, which may have been thinned till the blood
- ↑ So valuable is this protection, and so easily is it removed, that the groom or stableman, when washing the horse's hoofs, should never allow his water-brush to pass along the face of the crust. This part should be cleaned with a soft sponge.
