48 A New Horseshoe. [January, 



A NEW HORSE-SHOE. 



The August number of the United States Magazine, in an article 

 relating to the ' Farmer's Club of the American Institute, New York,' 

 gives the following description of a newj^atent horse-shoe, the invention 

 of Mr. Sewell Short, of New London, Connecticut, by whom it was sub- 

 mitted to the Club for examination. It is an ingenious contrivance, to 

 say the least ; while if it works well, it will mark a new era among 

 horses. 



" The patent horse-shoe," says the writer, '' attracted a good deal of 

 attention, and bids fair to be a valuable improvement ; though that 

 must be decided by more extended experience of its use. This improve- 

 ment docs away entirely with the cruel practice of driving nails into the 

 horse's hoof, which not unfrequently ' touch the quick,' causing great pain 

 to the animal, lameness, and sometimes ruin. The new shoe has not a 

 nail or a nail-hole in it. Otherwise, it is made in the common form, and 

 is held on to the foot by an iron cap, something in the shape of a low 

 cut vamp of a man's leather shoe, or the leather peak on the front of a 

 boy's cloth cap. This iron cap on the hoof, is about two inches wide at 

 the toe, but narrower on each side toward the heel. It is so thin as to 

 be a little flexible, and is fastened to the foot by a screw passing through 

 the two ends behind, by the heel. The lower edge of this cap fits into 

 a groove cut in the outer edge of the shoe, which holds them together, 

 and the screw fastens them both to the hoof. This cap does not come to 

 much wear, and will outlast many shoes ; so that the inventor thinks the 

 cost will be no greater than the common shoe, while it possesses many 

 advantages, besides being more comfortable for the horse. 



" The horse can go to bed at night with shoes ofi", ' like other folks,' and 

 have them put on his feet again in the morning ; he can run bare-foot in 

 the pasture, and put on his shoes to go to mill : he can have a pair 

 of smooth shoes on hand for warm and soft weather, and also shoes with 

 sharpened corks to slip on when the ground is suddenly covered with 

 ice. The inventor had used these shoes on an active and valuable horse, 

 about three months, and said the horse seemed to be well pleased 

 with them. He thought if horses could speak, he should soon receive 

 from them a vote of thanks." 



This would appear to be an excellent shoe ; but is it not the same as 

 that patented by Wm. H. Towers, of Philadelphia, December 20, 1853 ? 



