46 THE SHOEING OF HORSES. 



The uses of the frog are numerous : It is a weight-bearer. 

 From its form and position upon the foot, when the animal 

 travels at great speed, the frog will act as a wedge upon the 

 earth, and thus aid very materially in giving firm hold to the 

 foot ; it will also aid in checking or controling the speed. To 

 us these functions of the organ are what may be called its obvious 

 uses. If a shoe could be constructed of a 7naterial of such a nature 

 as exactly to cover the entire ground surface of the foot, and press 

 2ipon it in a manner precisely similar in all respects to what water 

 would do, if confined to the area in question; and if this material 

 could be secured to the organ without interfering with the outward 

 spread of the wall of the foot ^ or limit the action of the organ in any 

 direction whatever beyond what is perfectly natural^ then the farrier s 

 art would be perfect, and the desire of the most humane realised. 



3. How often should the Shoes be Removed? — The average 

 duration at which shoes are allowed to remain upon the feet of 

 horses in large towns engaged in active work is generally from 

 thirty to forty days. With agricultural horses the case is different, 

 and altogether a matter of uncertainty. Many horses exclusively 

 engaged in agriculture have rarely shoes applied to the hind feet ; 

 while the fore feet sometimes retain their shoes three and four 

 months in succession — a practice not, as a rule, to be recommended. 

 So long, however, as the shoes retain their proper place without 

 injury to the sole, and are secure to the wall, it may not be neces- 

 sary to interfere with them. Frequently to remove the shoes is a 

 practice destructive to the feet; and the more lengthened the 

 interval before their removal, unless necessity requires, the better 

 and more efficient is the foot likely to remain. 



