In concluding this chapter, I would just repeat that the natural bearing surface of the horse's foot is the lower edge of the wall and that portion of the sole immediately in union with it; that the arch of the sole should not be in contact with the ground; that the frog ought to have a bearing on the ground, but ought not to be so prominent as to unduly share in sustaining weight. This natural bearing surface is what we want to utilize in shoeing. We put on a shoe merely to prevent excessive wear of the hoof. If we can protect the wall the frog can take care of itself, and we have only so to apply our shoe that we do not damage any useful structure or interfere with any natural function.
Note.—No person is expected to learn the structure of a foot entirely from this description. He must obtain two feet cut off at the fetlock joint. One he should soak in water till the hoof can be pulled off. The sensitive foot is then visible and the inside of the hoof; with these before him, the drawings and descriptions in this chapter will be of great assistance. The second foot he should have sawn vertically down the middle through the point of the toe, and again across the quarters, so as to show the inside of the foot from two different points of view; this will afford a view of the relation of parts.
[CHAPTER III.]
Preparation of the Foot.
The cheap wisdom of the amateur is often expressed in the remark "the shoe should be fitted to the foot, not the foot to the shoe." Like many other dogmatic statements this is only the unqualified assertion of half a truth. Foot and shoe have to be fitted to each other. There are very few horses whose feet do not require considerable alteration before a shoe can be properly fitted to them. As a rule, when a horse arrives at the forge, the feet are overgrown and quite out of proportion. In a few cases—as when a shoe has been lost on a journey—the foot is worn or broken and irregularly deficient in horn. In either instance the farrier has to make alterations in the hoof to obtain the best bearing surface before he fits a new shoe. The claim often made for some novel inventions in horse shoes, "that they may be fitted and applied in the stable by a groom or stableman" is evidence of a sad misunderstanding of the art of horse-shoeing. If shod feet always remained of the same shape replacement of shoes would be a very easy matter—but they never do. The living foot is constantly changing, and therefore the man entrusted with fitting shoes to it, must know what its proper form should be. When he finds it disproportionately overgrown he must know how much horn to remove—where to take away and where to leave alone. He must not carry in his head a theoretical standard of a perfect foot and attempt to reduce all feet to that shape. He must make allowance for varieties of feet, and for many little differences of form that present themselves in practice. He has, in fact, to prepare the foot for a shoe, and it is just as important to do this properly as it is to prepare a shoe for the foot. To fit a shoe to a foot which has not been properly prepared may be even more injurious to the horse than "to fit the foot to the shoe."
The general principle to be followed is—to remove superfluous horn, to obtain a good bearing surface for a shoe, to bring all parts of the hoof equally into proportion. A good foot so prepared, when the horse is standing on level ground should show, when looked at from the front, both sides of the wall of equal height; the transverse line of the coronet should be parallel with the line of the lower border of the hoof, and
the perpendicular line of the leg should cut those lines at right angles. ([Fig. 17]). When looked at from the side the height of the heels and the toe should be proportionate. When looked at from behind the frog should be seen touching the ground. On lifting the foot a level bearing surface wider than the wall should be presented, extending from heel to toe all round the circumference of the hoof; within this level border, the sole should be concave, strong, and rough.