CALKS EN AMERICA. 121 



lecturer who averred that in America the farriers 

 did not cut away the frog nor scoop the sole, also 

 asserted that in America calks are not used. 



Now I took especial care to see whether the 

 horses wore calks or not, and I unhesitatingly say 

 that the calks are quite as universal in America 

 as in England, and quite as deep — possibly deeper. 

 I asked why they were worn, and was given the 

 usual answer — i.e. that without their use the horse 

 would slip and probably fall on the sloping and 

 frozen roads of Boston ; and that horses who had no 

 such protection did fall, and often had to be killed. 

 Very much the same reasons are given in England. 



Now, in the first place, the existence of the calk, 

 though it may be only a short one, is tantamount to 

 the abolition of the frog, which may just as well be 

 cut away as left suspended above the ground. AVe 

 have already seen that pressure on the frog is neces- 

 sary for the well-being of the horse, so that this fact 

 alone is decisive against the calkin. 



But the assertion that without the calk the horse 

 would slip and fall is a pure assumption. If the 

 ordinary shoe be used, there is some reason for the 

 statement. In winter time, as I know from personal 

 experience, it is difficult even for a man who has 

 nothing to draw or carry to keep his footing in the 

 streets of Boston, and horses shod in the ordinary 



