HORSE-SHOEING. 793 



have been accustomed to wear shoes should not have them removed, and be put at once to 

 hard work on rough roads, for this will be liable to make them tender-footed. The hoof 

 will also be apt to split and break. If, in such cases, the animal could be turned into a pas 

 ture on damp soil, or where there is wet grass, for a few days, the hoofs will become softened, 

 when they can be trimmed or rasped off evenly. If put to hard work before the nail-holes 

 or those portions of the wall that have been split or weakened by them are worn off, 

 there will be a liability of the hoofs being further injured. 



It would be well to give horses that have been accustomed to wear shoes, the protection 

 which tips afford for a time, until the hoofs become hardened, if they are to be put to much 

 service. 



Probably some horses have had their hoofs injured to such an extent by bad shoeing and 

 nailing, that more time would be required to permit the hoof to become repaired by the 

 natural process, than could be profitably spared by the owner. The quality of the hoof differs 

 with different horses, some having much harder hoofs than others. The only way to tell 

 whether a horse s hoofs are tough or tender is to test them thoroughly after the broken and 

 damaged portions are removed or worn away. 



A Western gentleman of large experience with horses says: &quot; We have long been con 

 vinced of the folly of keeping horses shod the year round, and at present we allow all of our 

 horses to go barefoot most of the time, and some of them are constantly on the road, and 

 most of the time on paved streets. We keep our horses shod only during the rough and 

 slippery roads of mid-winter. If farmers could save a part of their blacksmith bill, and at the 

 same time improve their horses, it would be a decided gain.&quot; 



Col. M. C. Weld a high authority on all that pertains to horse-management gives his 

 practice as follows: &quot;With me it is a great desideratum to have my horses shod as small a 

 part of the year as possible. They are surer-footed; their feet are in better order; they 

 travel freer on short journeys I have not tested them on long ones; they do not injure one 

 another by kicking, and it is a saving of expense. In fact, considering the number of ail 

 ments brought about by bad shoeing and poor blacksmiths, and the number of horses hope 

 lessly ruined by this means, and the fact that there are parts of the world where the roads 

 are even rockier and rougher than ours, where the art of farriery is unknown, and the horses 

 are all driven and ridden barefoot, that we in the country ought to do the same, and let our 

 horses go barefoot just as much as possible.&quot; 



We doubt whether horses would be benefited by going entirely without shoes the year 

 round in those latitudes where ice forms during the winter, although many who have tested 

 the plan assert its practicability, but we do believe that the majority of horses might go 

 unshod with benefit during a large portion of the year, and it would be to the advantage of 

 farmers and horse-owners generally to have less iron and steel, and more common sense, 

 employed in the management of their horses feet. 



Results of Improper Shoeing. Faulty shoeing, as previously stated, ^s the cause 

 of many of the ills which horses are obliged to endure, good shoeing being the exception 

 rather than the common practice. Among the many evils that result from improper shoe 

 ing may be mentioned the cutting away of the bars and frog, thus weakening the support and 

 protection of the foot; the thin paring of the sole, which removes the protection of the inner 

 sole from both the ground and the atmosphere, making the horse tender-footed, and causing 

 the natural moisture of the hoof to become absorbed by the atmosphere, until it becomes dry 

 and cracks. Then there is the breaking off of the walls of the hoof by the nail-holes, the 

 drawing of the nails too tightly, the use of the rasp in making a groove for clinching the 

 nails; the cutting and filing of the edges of the hoof that project beyond the shoe; the 

 opportunity of foreign substances, such as stones, gravel, or earth, becoming wedged between 

 the shoe and sole; the uneven pressure of the shoe on different portions of the sole; the 



