SHOEING, 553 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
OPERATIONS. 
SHOEING—ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM—METHODS OF CONFINING THE HORSE— 
BLEEDING—FIRING—SETONS AND ROWELS—BLISTERING—CASTRATION— DOCKING AND 
NICKING — UNNERVING — REDUCTION OF HERNIA— ADMINISTRATION OF PHYSIC — 
CLYSTERS—BACK-RAKING, 
SHOEING. 
BEFORE PROCEEDING TO DESCRIBE the various methods adopted in shoeing 
the horse, it will be well to consider whether it is necessary to protecé 
his feet in this way at ail. This has been doubted by many, and an 
attempt has recently been made by Lieutenant Perry to prove that 
even in this country a horse can work on our roads unshod. His opinion, 
and that of the few who coincide with him, is that if the foot is gra- 
dually accustomed to the friction of the road, it will secrete a stronger 
horn, and throw it out more rapidly, so that it will bear the enormous 
wear and tear which its use on our macadamized road entails upon 
this organ. This argument is supported by numberless instances abroad, 
in which horses are used without shoes; but it does not follow that 
because they will bear the friction and blows incidental to one kind of 
surface, a different one will not lame them. Every experiment which has 
been made in this country of working horses unshod has turned out a 
failure, and in Lieutenant Perry’s case the mare on which he tried the 
plan became so sore that his commanding officer interposed to prevent 
a further continuance of the trial. It can only therefore be considered 
conclusive by those who are willing to take the opinion of a colonel of 
Engineers as opposed to a subaltern officer—which is the position in 
which this single experiment stands. Every horseman knows that with- 
out a gradual seasoning there is no doubt about the foot being too weak 
to stand the wear of the road, and therefore unless the trial is made under 
every advantage it goes for nothing ; and the mere fact that a horse, after 
losing a shoe, can hardly be taken home without breaking his foot, proves 
nothing, because it may be alleged that the same animal, if left unshod, 
would in course of time secrete a horn so tough and hard that it would be 
capable of bearing any amount of friction. Judging from those cases in 
which I have seen the plan partially tried, that is, with tips instead of full 
shoes, I believe that it is impossible to make it succeed with high-actioned 
horses on our roads during the summer season, for even with that protec- 
tion the heels and frogs become very thin, and I am satisfied that the 
toes, if unprotected, would wear or break away to the quick in a very short 
time. Whether it is possible to work any horse, possessing an average foot, 
with tips only on our roads, I am by no means prepared to say, but that 
some horses can do so I know from positive experience. The heels wear 
thin, but do not become bruised, and the horny matter of the frog is 
renewed as fast as it is required. Undoubtedly the toes when unshod are 
much more exposed to injury than the heels, especially in those horses 
whose action is inclined to make that part touch the ground first, for 
there is a tendency to breakas well as wear away. It is also an admitted 
