SHOES OF 'LURRY' HORSES. 113 



which is hung upon his feet adds greatly to his day's 

 work, and helps to wear him out before his time. 

 Common sense ought to tell us that, even regarding 

 the horse as a mere machine, it must be as foolish to 

 hang needless weights on his feet as to clog an en- 

 gine after a similar fashion. 



Now, as a rule, the weight of a shoe for a carriage- 

 horse is about a pound and a half. Multiply this 

 weight by four, and we can at once see how much 

 needless work has to be done by the mere exertion of 

 lifting such a weight from the ground. 



As extreme cases, I may mention the shoes which 

 are worn by the gigantic horses employed to draw 

 the Manchester ' lurry.' An ordinary set of ' lurry ' 

 horseshoes weighs about sixteen pounds, this enor- 

 mous mass of iron being thought necessary to protect 

 the hoof against the granite pavement. 



There are some sets which weigh seven pounds 

 per shoe — i.e. twenty-eight pounds per set. These, 

 however, I never saw, but accept the statement of 

 Lieutenant Douglas, in his ' Horseshoeing,' p. 4. 



The same writer makes a curious calculation of 

 the difference in a horse's work when he is shod 

 lightly or heavily. The directors of one of our large 

 railway companies substituted shoes weighing ten 

 pounds per set for those which were double the 

 weight. 



