General Properties. 1. Form.—A form corresponding to the shape of the hoof is indispensable in every shoe. Front and hind and right and left shoes should be sharply defined and easily distinguishable. Front shoes must, above all else, be circular round cut the toe. Hind shoes, on the contrary, should be round pointed at the toe, yet not too much so, but as in [Fig. 116].
2. Width.—All shoes should be wider webbed (more covered) at the toe than at the ends of the branches. The medium width should be about twice the thickness of the wall.
Fig. 107.
Right front shoe, ground-surface.
Fig. 108.
Right front shoe, hoof-surface:
a, bearing-surface;
b, concaving, or “seating.”
3. Thickness.—Each shoe should, in general terms, be so thick that it need not be renewed under four weeks. Lungwitz found that the average required thickness is about seven-sixteenths of an inch. Of course, this thickness must be diminished or increased according to the rapidity of wear of the shoe. Shoes without calks should be of uniform thickness, unless there are special reasons for making them otherwise.
4. Length.—For draft-horses they should be long enough to reach the bulbs of the heel, otherwise shorter, though in other respects they may differ ([see “special properties”]), but should in all cases completely cover the bearing-surface of the hoof.