58 PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



and strain on the front of the foot, the shoe is more rapidly- 

 worn away at the toe; so its thickness there must he 

 greater, and the shoe in consequence heavier, or the ani- 

 mal will have to be more frequently shod. From their 

 only lasting for a limited period, the horse, at first in- 

 clined to rely on them to preserve his footing on slippery 

 roads, becomes timid and unsafe when they are worn 

 down to the surface of the shoe. By their form, and their 

 projecting so much beyond the level of the plate, they jar 

 the limb ; expose it to twists and treads sometimes of a 

 grave character; induce shortening of the flexor tendons; 

 and until they have been considerably reduced, interfere 

 with the animal's action. They are also liable to cause 

 the shoe to be torn off, by getting caught between paving- 

 stones ; while they produce severe lacerations, should the 

 horse wearing them happen to kick another animal. This 

 is more particularly observed among army horses which 

 have calkins on their hind shoes — and especially when in 

 camp or picketed. They also throw more strain upon the 

 nails and the hoof itself. Neither must it be forgotten 

 that they remove the frog from contact with the ground. 



One side of the shoe being higher than the other pro- 

 duces the same results as follow when the hoof is unequal 

 in this respect. The hind limb is more exposed to this 

 evil than the fore one, from calkins being most frequently 

 added to the hind shoes, and from the fashion of having 

 the inner branch thickened, but not sufficient to compen- 

 sate for the height of the calkin on the outer heel. This 

 inequality is productive of injury to the fetlock and hock 

 joints, and is doubtless not unfrequently the cause of that 

 formidable disease of the latter — spavin. 



But even if the farrier has reason to apply shoes whose 

 ground-surface is not studded with calkins or any other 

 kind of "catch," he, in nearly every case of ordinary 

 wear, puts on one which has the whole of this surface 



