ground first is the heel, where there is no bony foundation but two springy cartilages with the elastic frog beneath. The frog is squashed downwards and for-words, giving a strong hold, like a non-skidding pneumatic tyre. The movements of the hoof are very small -just a slight bulging round the coronet, and a little widening of the heels.

The shape of the feet: A normal foot is rounded at the toe, and makes a slope of about 50 degrees with the ground. Both feet should be the same shape. The outer side has a wider curve than the inner, and the hind feet are not so curved as the fore and more pointed at the toe. On true-made legs the feet are placed quite straight and square. A hind foot may be rested, but if a horse rests a forefoot, it is a sure sign of trouble. Rate of growth: It takes about nine months for horn to grow from the coronet to the ground. But of course this is only approximately; in some horses it takes longer, in some less.

PREPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING

First the shoe is removed and as much new horn as has grown since the last shoeing is rasped off, the comparative length of toe and heel being accurately preserved and the bearing surface for the reception of the new shoe kept level. Any flakes of horn which are evidently just coming away from the sole may be pulled out, and any markedly ragged pieces of frog cut off, but no paring of the sole or slicing of the frog is permissible. It is imperative that the wall at the heels be not widened by under rasping. This is often done in a fruitless endeavour to get the frog of the shod foot on to the ground an impossibility.

The following are common faults of preparation:

1. Overlowering the wall.
2. Making the bearing surface uneven.
3. 'Stumping' the toe. (A serious fault. If the toe requires shortening it should be done by rasping the ground surface and not the front wall.)
4. Securing and holding the nails. (Necessary only very occasionally with flat feet, in order to get the nails high enough up.)
5. Paring the sole.
6. Paring the frog.
7. Opening the heels or cutting away the bars.
8. Overlowering the heels.

THE SHOE

The whole substance of the shoe is called the web, and the width of the web is called the cover. Thus a 'wide-webbed' shoe has often plenty of 'cover'. From toe to heel on each side is called the branch. The surface in contact with the foot is called the bearing, and it may be either flat or seated. Seating is the hollowed-out part of the bearing surface, so that a 'seated' shoe bears on the wall alone. A saucer shoe is one in which the seating is so extensive that only the outer edge of the wall takes a bearing. The object of 'seating' is to take pressure off the sole, and when the sole is flat it becomes a necessity; but as the sole of a healthy foot is slightly arched, it is in most cases not required. A seated foot surface cannot offer as good a bearing as a flat one; moreover dirt gathers between the sole of it and the shoe more readily, and the shoe is more likely to be sucked off. Fullering is a groove in the ground surface of the shoe in which the nail holes are placed. Nail-holes which are not in a fullering but go through the whole thickness of the web are called 'stamped'. A 'Rodway' shoe has two grooves, the second being on the inside and containing no nail holes. The advantages of'fullering' are:

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