THE CARE OF HORSES. 313 



be pared only enough to keep it level, and to prevent 

 undue length at the toe. The amateur may be sure 

 that a blacksmith whose practice is to pare or burn 

 the sole of his horse's foot is a bad blacksmith; and 

 he may almost be sure that one who does not pare 

 or burn is a good blacksmith. In former days it was 

 the custom to pare the sole almost to the quick, for 

 absolutely no reason ; and consequently, whenever a 

 shoe came off, the horse was immediately disabled. 

 The reader of fiction or poetry of the last century, or 

 of the first half of the present century, will remember 

 that, whenever the traveller's horse cast a shoe, the 

 rider w r as obliged to dismount forthwith, and to lead 

 the animal with slow and painful steps to the nearest 

 smithy. But if the foot be left undisturbed, protected 

 by its cover of horn, the loss of a shoe need not be 

 made good for a day or a week. On country roads a 

 horse with sound feet should be able to travel for a 

 week or so without shoes ; and if he is driven or 

 ridden only enough to keep him exercised, he may 

 dispense with shoes altogether. This at least is true 

 where the roads are soft, but where the roads are 

 hard it would not be true. 



On the other hand, the position that no horse ever 

 need be shod — which books have been written to 

 maintain — is an absurdity. A city dray horse wears 

 out every month an iron shoe at least one third of an 

 inch thick. Would the horn of his foot last so long ? 

 The ordinary growth of horn is only about one quarter 

 of an inch per month ; and although the unshod hoof 

 may grow somewhat faster, it does not grow fast 

 enough to compensate for the wear and tear of ordi- 

 nary roads. Horses in the wild state, and horses 



