THE ART OF THE FARRIER. 237 



raising tlie shoes that overload his feet. The calculation I have 

 made possesses an eloquence that dispenses with very long com- 

 mentaries. Suppose the weight of a shoe is two pounds, it is not 

 excessive to admit that a horse trots at the rate of one step every 

 second, or sixty stops a minute. In a minute, then, the limb of a 

 horse whose foot carries two pounds, makes efforts 8uirici(!nt to 

 raise a weight of one hundred and twenty pounds. For the four 

 limbs this weight in a minute is represented by 120 -+-4 =480 

 pounds ; for the four feet during an hour the weight is 28,800 

 pounds ; and for four hours, the mean duration of a day's work, 

 in the French omnibuses, the total amount of weight raised has 

 reached the enormous figure of 115,200 pounds. But the move- 

 ment communicated to these 115,200 pounds, represents an 

 expenditure of the power employed by the motor without any 

 useful result; and, as the motor is a living one, this expenditure 

 of strength represents an exhaustion, or, if you like it better, a 

 degree of fatigue proportioned to the effort necessary for its mani- 

 festation." 



It is essential that the shoe should be of the same thickness 

 throughout, for this insures a natural position to the foot and 

 limb. Where calks are deemed necessary, they should be of equal 

 height at the toe and heel. Tlie number of nails necessary to 

 retain the shoe jn its place is a matter of consideration, but hardly 

 merits the controversies to which the subject has given rise from 

 time to time. Regarding every nail-hole as an injury to the hoof, 

 which it certainly is, it is at once evident that the number should 

 not exceed that which is absolutely necessary. For the saddle or 

 light-draught horse, not more than five or six in the fore, and 

 seven in the hind, are required, and these should be more widely 

 distributed than is the usual custom. In driving the nails, it is of 

 importance that the hold should be short, including within the 

 group a comparatively small portion of the crust. The shoe is 

 thus held more securely, and the injury to the horn is more speedily 

 removed by the natural growth downward. 



It would seem unprofitable to enter into the discussions which 

 have arisen from time to time as to the propriety of applying the 

 shoe and fitting it to the foot in a hot rather than in a cold condi- 

 tion. It must suffice here to say that experience has amply shown 

 that the hot fitting will alone secure the proper and accurate 

 application of the shoe, and that the slight scorching of the horn- 



