STABLE MANAGEMENT 243 



Shoeing. 



Shoeing, alas ! is in this country a necessary evil, for the 

 horn of the hoof is not sufficiently adamantine to stand the 

 friction of the King's highway. In other countries, in wild, 

 rather desolate regions, it is no doubt possible for horses to 

 work unshod, but from very remote ages it has been found 

 absolutely necessary in some way to protect the feet of the 

 bard-working horse. Nor has any practical method ever 

 been discovered to keep the shoes on without nailing them 

 to the foot, during the thousands of years during which 

 mankind has shod the horse. Therein hes the difficulty, for 

 even when horses stand quietly to be shod from time to 

 time they get pricked in shoeing, a nail penetrating the 

 sensitive portion of the foot ; whilst the difficulty is 

 immensely increased when horses of violent temper have 

 to be dealt with, or young animals unaccustomed to the 

 process. Some smiths are more careless than others, and a 

 man accustomed only to shoe the heavy breeds, with large 

 feet and abundant thickness of horn outside the sensitive 

 parts, is very apt to make a mistake when on occasion he is 

 called upon to shoe the small foot of a well-bred horse. It 

 IS often the case that the nail is not driven very far before 

 the horse flinches, and then the smith immediately with- 

 draws the nail, drives it in a fresh direction, and satisfies 

 himself that it is all right. Or perhaps the nail has not 

 actually passed into the sensitive laminae, only into the soft, 

 cheese-like portion of the horn immediately surrounding it ; 

 and so when the horse goes out to exercise, the pressure and 

 concussion after a time have their due effect, and the 

 offending nail causes more and more soreness, making the 

 animal go "feeling" and "pottery," even if it is not 

 actually lame. There is only one thing to do under such 

 circumstances, and if a horse is lame or has suddenly 

 become faulty in his action after being recently shod, take 

 no notice of the solemn protestation of the smith that he 

 is prepared to swear he never pricked the animal, have the 

 shoe removed at once, and put a poultice on the foot. If 

 the smith has not pricked the foot such a proceeding will 



