The Country Gentleman's Magazine 



383 



HORSE-SHOEING. 



FALSE IMPRESSIONS THE FORERUNNERS OF 

 FALSE PRACTICES. 



IT will be apparent to all who look upon 

 the horse as a weight-bearing animal, 

 even when only his own body is taken into 

 consideration, that his hoofs should possess 

 firmness, soundness, and hardness, in order 

 to give the necessary support and protection. 

 When, however, we add to his duties of 

 weight-carrying those of drawing, sometimes 

 heavy loads, and at a rapid rate, over hard 

 stones and macadamized roads, to say no- 

 thing of bad roads, and those still worse 

 than bad — covered with huge angular masses, 

 which is termed " repairing " — we have fur- 

 ther undoubted evidences of the necessity for a 

 state of complete aptitude and preservation. 



But hard roads, bad roads, and rapid 

 driving have not done all the mischief to 

 our horses' feet, of which we have at this 

 day to complain, and for which so many are 

 eager to announce a remedy in some well- 

 puffed "patent" or other. So-called scien- 

 tific applications, both as patents and other- 

 wise, as well as brutal ignorance, have had 

 an equal share in the spoliation, and the cry 

 is loud as ever for remedies to overcome the 

 present state of things. 



Demonstrative teachers are fond of illus- 

 tration, and such men have originated and 

 perpetuated much error by resorting to 

 analogy for a solution of difficult questions 

 before them. Thus they have said the 

 horse's hoof corresponds to the human nail, 

 which in the process of growth is liable to 

 acquire an improper form ; therefore, it must 

 be pared. The human nails likewise being 

 objects that may attract attention, are 

 directed to be carefully trimmed from time 

 to time, in order to preserve the desired 

 form, and horses' feet have not been forgot- 

 ten in similar directions. But while these 

 processes of paring, trimming, and ra.sping 



have been going on, those who taught and 

 those who practised entirely overlooked the 

 fact that the human nails are not intended to 

 bear weight, resist momentous shocks, and 

 sustain such forces that would cause com- 

 plete disruption of their several parts as the 

 hoof of the horse is required to do. The 

 human nail in the absence of exercise will 

 grow inordinately long, which a simple ab- 

 scission may remedy ; but combination of 

 parts endowed with special and dissimilar 

 functions, as they exist in the horse's foot, re- 

 quire something more than the bare direction 

 that " it must be pared." Vague teaching as 

 this is has led to an immense amount of 

 error and, as is always the case, when car- 

 ried over a series of years, the result pro\es 

 almost insurmountable. The present state 

 of our horses' feet, and ignorance displayed 

 in what is termed " horse-shoeing," are now 

 as bad as they can be, and our agricultural 

 societies would do well to look into tlie 

 matter with a view of amelioration. 



Many years ago horses were not shod as 

 now, and in many countries at this day 

 merely sandals of rushes or some rude 

 material are employed as a protection. The 

 Romans used their horses barefoot upon the 

 hardest of roads, and it was only after ex- 

 tended rapid invasions into countries in which 

 their system of road making could not be or 

 was not introduced, that serious conditions 

 of the feet became common. The horse 

 being a most valuable animal in the Roman's 

 estimation, he sought the best skill for his 

 preservation, and veterinarians under Con- 

 stantine were appointed to watch over the 

 horses of Byzantium. These men possessed 

 the rank of nobles, and for successive genera- 

 tions sat at their chieftain's table and enjoyed 

 his confidence. Their practice was confined 

 to the ailments of the feet — not so much in 

 the way of cure as in the way of prevention, 

 for, where damage from attrition or fracture 



