SHOEING. 667 
thing to prevent his slipping, and the common practice is to turn up 
one or both heels, which projections are called “calkings” or “cogs” 
(see figs. 6, 7, C). In horses for heavy harness work it is necessary 
to use these on both heels, but as the inner one is apt to cut the 
opposite fetlock joint, or bruise the coronet by treading on it, and 
one suffices for light work, the usual practice is to turn up the outer 
heel only for all ordinary work, such as light, fast harness, hacking 
and hunting. If, however, this is done, the inner heel must be made 
proportionately thick, so as to give the horse a level bearing, without 
which he never works in comfort. Many smiths maintain that this is not 
necessary, because the calking sinks into the ground and does not there- 
fore really raise that heel above the other. This is true enough when the 
roads are soft; but when they are hard, as even Macadamised roads often 
are, the calking sinks very little or not at all, and the twist complained 
of is actually felt. It is the best practice, therefore, to shoe the hind feet 
in all light harness horses, hunters, and hacks, with an outside calking, 
but the inner web narrow but deep, or what is called “feather-edged.” 
This is shown in fig. 6, which is a side view of such a shoe, specially 
Fic. 6.—FrATHER-EDGED OFF HIND SHUvE. 
A. Clip at toe. B. Inside heel C. Outside heel, with ‘calking.” 
adapted to prevent “cutting,” but also, as before remarked, useful for 
general purposes. Mr. Miles recommends instead of this, for ordinary 
horses, that both heels should be made of double thickness for about an 
inch, leaving a shoulder in the ground surface at that distance from the 
heel, but this is just as likely to cause “cutting” as the “calking,” as 
there need be no more projection in the one than in the other, and the 
nearer this is to the quarter the more likely it is to strike the opposite 
leg, this part of the foot being wider than the heels. I cannot, therefore, 
recommend the adoption of Mr. Miles’ hind shoe, which has all the dis- 
advantages of the double calking and of the feather-edged shoe without 
the advantages of either. As I before remarked, there can be no objection 
to the feather-edged shoe, which is not necessarily without nails on the 
inside, and may be punched by using a deep fullering so as to take two or 
three nails on that side. The toe of the hind shoe wears away very 
rapidly, being always brought to the ground before the heel on level roads 
and in going up hill, in the latter especially so, while in going down hill 
it wears away as fast as the heel. It should therefore be made stouter 
and thicker than the fore shoe, with a small clip in the middle to prevent 
it from being driven back out of its seat. The back edge as well as the 
front side of the clip should be well rounded, as represented in fig. 7, to 
prevent any risk from overreaches caused by a cutting blow from the 
latter, while the former, if left sharp, will be liable to catch hold of the 
projecting heel of a fore shoe and pull it off. 
