34 RATIONAL HOKSE-SHOEING. 



ing liis knee. The owner asks the smith why 

 he does it, and the smith, who never fails to 

 give a reason, says he has always noticed that 

 horse had " weak knees." We know of a 

 shoer in Worcester County, Massachusetts, 

 who has a wide local reputation for " doctor- 

 ing " weak knees. He holds that the muscles 

 of the leg in such cases are too shorty and have 

 to be lengthened with thick iron heels and 

 calks. It is a favorite theory of this class of 

 shoers that they are ahle to correct the errors 

 of Providence in the horse's construction, and 

 piece him out with heel-calks and bar-shoes ! 



INTEKFERING AND SPEEDY CUT. 



If horses were not shod, they would not 

 interfere; it therefore follows that shoeing is 

 the cause of this defect. A contracted hoof, 

 pain from corns, or any inflammation causes a 

 horse to seek a new bearing. In doing this 

 he strikes himself. Blacksmiths make " inter- 

 fering shoes," welding side-pieces and super- 

 fluous calks ujDon their clumsy contrivances, 

 and sometimes succeed in preventing the 



