CALKINS. CLIPS. 421 



previous preparation of the foot, the heat must be injurious both to the sensible 

 and insensible parts of the foot. 



The heels of the shoe should be examined as to their proper width. What- 

 ever is the custom of shoeing the horses of dealers, and the too prevalent 

 practice in the metropolis of giving the foot an open appearance, although the 

 posterior part of it is thereby exposed to injury, nothing is more certain than that, 

 in the horse destined for road- work, the heels, and particularly the seat of corn, 

 can scarcely be too well covered. Part of the shoe projecting externally can be 

 of no possible good, but will prove an occasional source of mischief, and especially 

 in a heavy country. A shoe, the web of which projects inward as far as it can 

 without touching the frog, affords protection to the angle between the bars and 

 the crust. 



Of the manner of attaching the shoe to the foot the owner can scarcely be a 

 competent judge ; he can only take care that the shoe itself shall not be heavier 

 than the work requires that, for work a little hard the shoe shall still be light, 

 with a bit of steel welded into the toe that the nails shall be as small, and as 

 few, and as far from the heels as may be consistent with the security of the 

 shoe ; and that, for light work at least, the shoe shall not be driven on so closely 

 and firmly as is often done, nor the points of the nails be brought out so high 

 up as is generally practised. 



CALKINS. 



There are few cases in which the use of calkins (a turning up or elevation of 

 the heel) can be admissible in the fore-feet, except in frosty weather, when it 

 may in some degree prevent unpleasant or dangerous slipping. If, however 

 calkins are used, they should be placed on both sides. If the outer heel only is 

 raised with the calkin, as is too often the case, the weight cannot be thrown 

 evenly on the foot, and undue straining and injury of some part of the foot or 

 of the leg must be the necessary consequence. Few things deserve more the 

 attention of the horseman than this most absurd and injurious of all the prac- 

 tices of the forge. One quarter of an hour's walking, with one side of the shoe 

 or boot raised considerably above the other, will painfully convince us of what 

 the horse must suffer from this too common method of shoeing. It cannot be 

 excused even in the hunting shoe. If the horse is ridden far to cover, or gal- 

 loped over much hard and flinty ground, he will inevitably suffer from this 

 unequal distribution of the weight. If the calkin is put on the outer heel, in 

 order to prevent the horse from slipping, either the horn of that heel should be 

 lowered to a corresponding degree, or the other heel of the shoe should be raised 

 to the same level by a gradual thickening. Of the use of calkins in the hinder 

 foot we shall presently speak. 



CLIPS. 



These are portions of the upper edge of the shoe, hammered out, and turned 

 up so as to embrace the lower part of the crust, and which is usually pared out 

 a little, in order to receive the clip. They are very useful, as more securely 

 attaching the shoe to the foot, and relieving the crust from that stress upon the 

 nails which would otherwise be injurious. A clip at the toe is almost necessary 

 in every draught-horse, and absolutely so in the horse of heavy draught, in 

 order to prevent the shoe from being loosened or torn off by the pressure which is 

 thrown upon the toe in the act of drawing. A clip on the outside of each shoe, 

 at the beginning of the quarters, will give security to it. Clips are likewise 

 necessary on the shoes of all heavy horses, and of all others who are disposed to 

 stamp, or violently paw with their feet, and thus incur the danger of displacing 

 the shoe ; but they are evils, inasmuch as they press upon the crust as it grows 



