668 THE HORSE. 
THE TIME FOR REMOVING the shoes of a horse must depend upon the 
work he does, and the nature of his foot. If the quarters are thin or 
broken, the less frequently the shoes are removed the better, up to a 
month, beyond which no shoe should be allowed to remain on. Those 
that have plenty of horn are better for a “remove” at the end of a fort- 
night, and the shoes of horses doing no work should never be allowed 
to remain on for more than three weeks at the outside. as the feet 
Fie. 7.—GrRounD SurFACE oF NEAR HIND SHOE. 
A. The toe rounded off before and behind. B. Inside hee?, feather-cdged. 
C. Outside heel, with ‘‘ calking.”” 
are far more liable to contract while at rest than when at work, provided 
always that the latter is not so hard as to produce inflammation and 
consequent deficiency in the secretion of the horn. 
During FRosts, when the roads are rendered slippery by ice, the shoes 
must be ‘‘roughed” in some way, to enable the horse to go with safety 
upon it. The common method is to turn up the heels with a sharp 
“calking,” and sometimes also to rivet a sharpened projection at the toe. 
These take hold of the ice and enable the horse to travel as easily as on 
the summer road as long as they are sharp, but in a few days the points 
wear down and the shoe must be removed. In slight frosts a few of the 
nails may be punched out, and “ frost-nails,” with large heads, may be 
driven in their places; but these are of no use for any distance, as their 
heads soon wear down. To avoid the necessity for this removal of the 
shoe at the commencement and during the course of every frost, several 
plans have been invented, but none of them answer the purpose, except 
that introduced to general notice by Mr. White, in his “ Farriery,” sixty 
years ago, but now seldom used, fcr what reason I cannot tell, as it 
answers admirably wherever a smith can be persuaded to carry it properly 
out. Mr. Spooner, who has edited the later editions of Mr. White’s book, 
has omitted all mention of the plan, possibly because he has never tried 
