230 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



foot or rasp or burn the hoof to make it fit the 

 shoe he has selected. The shoe should be made to 

 fit the hoof, and as few nails used as is consistent 

 with security. As the hoof is growing all the time, 

 just as a man's finger-nails grow, the shoes need 

 often to be changed so that they will not be too 

 small and so contract the hoof. The ideal horse is 

 the barefoot horse, but this is not possible when 

 a horse is used on pavements or hard roads. Then 

 the shoe should not be too heavy. Heavy shoes 

 merely make a horse's work very much harder. 



The feeding and watering of a horse are most 

 important. The horse can carry only a little food, 

 as his stomach is small compared with his size 

 and his need of nourishment. But he can drink a 

 good deal of water. He should have both food and 

 water equal to his needs. He should always be fed 

 three times a day, and he would not be the worse 

 if he were treated as the Germans treat them- 

 selves, with four meals a day. Moreover, a horse's 

 food should be varied a little. Oats and hay three 

 times a day for three hundred and sixty- five days 

 in the year may suffice, but it seems to me very 

 like a cruelty when it is so easy to vary the food 



