480 CHAPTER 63. 



983. Tips. 



Some reasons were given above, why closely fitted shoes, such as 

 recommended, are not more likely to cause contraction than the shoes in 

 ordinary use. If, however, it be desired especially to guard against 

 contraction, let the horse be shod with tips. (Plate 52, fig. 13.) 



A tip should cover the toe and anterior portion only of the quarter, 

 whilst the heels and bars are left uncovered or unprotected, as some call 

 it. The length of the tip should be about half that of the ordinary shoe. 

 Tips are generally made much too long ; so much so that they are little 

 else than short shoes, and of course produce the many evils of such 

 shoes. Tips should be turned up at the toe. Tips should be sloped from 

 the first nail-hole to prevent undue strain on the fetlock. 



The advantages gained by the use of tips may be summed up as under, 

 viz. 1st. Freedom is secured to the heels, which are the the most 

 common seat of contraction. Whatever a shoe may do, a tip cannot 

 cause contraction at the heels. 2nd. Concussion, and the diseases which 

 arise from it, must be greatly diminished by substituting the natural 

 action of the heels and frog for the jar of the iron shoe against the 

 ground. 3rd. The heels and frog are strengthened and developed by 

 being brought more actively and prominently into work and wear. 4th. 

 The liability to slip is much less in horses shod with tips than with any 

 kind of shoe, because the heels perform their functions more perfectly 

 when brought into contact with the ground than when elevated from it 

 by a shoe. The frog and bars are, from their structure, the natural 

 stays of the foot against slipping. 



The principal objections urged against tips are 1st. That they do 

 not afford sufficient protection for the foot; that a horse, for instance, 

 cannot travel safely over stones. This is a question which can only be 

 settled by the test of experience. The Author has tried them for years, 

 and is satisfied that they do afford sufficient protection. 2nd. It is urged 

 that with our hard roads and hard work the heels and frogs will wear 

 away. This, again, is a question of experience. The Author has found 

 that both heels and frogs strengthen and develop under use. 



Time is, of course, necessary after substituting tips for shoes, to allow 

 the heels and frogs to grow strong. It will not do to take the shoes off 

 a horse to-day and to rattle him in tips over stones to-morro\v. In shoe- 

 ing with tips it is necessary to shorten the toe rather more than for the 

 ordinary shoe to make up for the absence of iron at the heels and to 

 maintain the natural obliquity of the foot and pastern. Tips ought to 

 be removed every fortnight. 



983a. Ckarlier Shoes. 



The Charlier shoe consists in fitting a narrow rim of iron into a groove 

 cut round the lower margin of the crust of the hoof by means of a special 

 knife protected by a rnoveable guide. 



The appearance of a horse's foot shod in this fashion is very similar to 

 the iron heel of a man's boot. 



