100 THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOEK. 



can haul heavier loads and do it easier than the^^ can on 

 calldns. 



In shoeing- a spavined horse keep the toe low, and use a 

 very long- shoe with higli heels on the spavined leg, as the 

 horse has partly or entirely lost the use of the hocl^ joint. 

 The method will make the horse travel much easier and 

 greatly relieve the lameness. 



I do not believe in the so-called spring lieels ; I regard 

 them as a positive injury to the foot. To illustrate : A 

 few days ago a horse came to my shop with one front shoe 

 bent nearly an inch. The horse had been driven about 

 thirt^^ miles since he stepped on the shoe. After taking 

 the shoe off I found the foot twisted about three-fourths 

 of an inch. Now, if in traveling thirty miles one-quarter 

 of the foot can be driven past the other three-fourths of an 

 inch, so as to rest on a twisted shoe, why will not the foot, 

 instead of the shoe, do the springing- when the so-called 

 spring heels are used ? The shoe being nailed at the toe, 

 when the horse puts his foot down it makes a lever pur- 

 chase, and the heaviest pressure comes on the weakest part 

 of the foot, the heel quarter, where the wall is the thinnest, 

 and receives the least support. — By Yankee Black- 

 smith. 



For Hot Fitting. 



I believe it was about the ^^ear 1840, that a certain Mr. 

 Riquet, a veterinary surgeon, introduced what was termed 

 a *' podometrical " method of shoeing. From the time the 

 method of fitting shoes to the hoof was introduced, a few 

 inexperienced and professional men imagined that injury 

 was done to the horse's foot. In rare cases this was the 

 fact, for the custom was to pare the hoof down almost to 

 the quick. So that we cannot wonder that a few careless 

 workmen would press the hot shoe so long upon the hoof 



