114 HORSE AND MAN. 



' And what was the result ? Why, that the light 

 shoes wore longer than the heavy ones had done, the 

 average of the former being four weeks and five days 

 each shoe, while the latter wore but three weeks on 

 an average. 



; But it is not the wear of iron so much as the 

 wear of horseflesh that I am anxious to direct atten- 

 tion to now. It will be seen that as the shoes which 

 were taken off weighed five pounds apiece when new, 

 these horses were at once benefited by having ten 

 pounds less iron to carry about with them. 



' I will not attempt to calculate what difference 

 two and a half pounds of metal placed at the end of 

 a lever two and a half feet long would be equivalent 

 to, but will simply look at it as ten pounds extra 

 weight carried by each animal. A horse when walk- 

 ing lifts his feet all round about .thirty times a 

 minute, so that if we allow the day's work to last 

 eight hours, the difference in favour of lighter shod 

 horses is over sixty-four tons.' 



Here Mr. Douglas gives his calculations in full ; 

 but, as space is valuable, I do not transcribe them. 



The heavy unyielding shoe has sometimes a very 

 strange effect. I have seen a 'lurry ' horse, who had 

 not acquired the art of lifting his weighted feet per- 

 pendicularly, try to walk as it would have done had 

 he been unshod i.e. by putting down the heel first, 



