452 



HORSE-SHOEING 



time, horses are " roughed" or " sharped". The shoes are taken off, heated 

 in the fire, and the heels turned down so as to form a sharp projection 

 that will cut into ice or frozen snow, and so give firm foothold. On hard 

 roads this sharp projection soon becomes worn away, and the process 

 of roughing has to be repeated. This repeated removal of shoes injures 

 the feet, not only by the driving of nails through old holes, but by 

 the shortening of the shoe, necessitated by the roughing. So injurious 

 is repeated roughing, that a better but more expensive method is now 

 adopted by all sensible men who have horses of value that must continue 

 at work during frost and snow. From about the middle of November 

 to the middle of March sufficient frost to render roads unsafe may at 

 any time appear. To meet this the shoes, before l^eing put on, are 

 furnished with holes at the heels, or both at toe and heel. These holes 



Fig. B47. — Steel Sharps to be Screwed into Shoes when required 



are made with a thread, into which movable steel sharps can be .screwed 

 when wanted. To keep the holes clear a cork may be screwed into them, 

 or better still, square steel plugs may be used during ordinary weather, 

 and replaced by the sharps when frost arrives. No removal of shoes is 

 required by this method, and no sharp projections need be left in the 

 shoes when the horses are in the stable. 



INJUEIES FROM SHOEING 



When a horse has a good foot and shoeing is 23roperly done, no harm 

 to the horse results from the repetition of the operation every month 

 for his whole lifetime. Accidents may happen, l)ut to speak of shoeing 

 as " a necessary evil" conveys a very incorrect notion of its value. To 

 do the work without shoes that is now done by horses with shoes would 

 require twenty times the number of horses at present in use, and more 

 than half of the whole would be lame at frequent intervals from injury 

 due to wear of the hoof The British army keep very strict notes of 

 everything which causes a horse to be unfit for duty. The strength 

 on an average is 16.000 horses, and the injuries from shoeing only 150 



