196 HORSE AND MAN. 



the hoof, and, as we have seen, there is abundant 

 evidence that the hoof needs no such protection. 



Now we will take the opposite side, and see what 

 can be urged against the iron shoe nailed on the 

 hoof. 



It is not only asserted and surmised, but proved, 

 that the shoe is the direct, or indirect cause of every 

 disease to which the hoof is liable. It causes Corns, 

 which could no more exist in the hoof of a shoeless 

 horse than in the foot of an Australian savage who 

 never saw a shoe in his life. The shoe causes 

 laminitis, quitters, thrush, and navicular disease, all 

 being inflammatory in their nature. Contracted 

 hoof, greasy heels, and sand-crack are equally 

 attributable to the shoe, and make the very name of 

 farrier a terror to all who care for the welfare of 

 their horses. 



Then, the unpleasant habits of cutting, brushing, 

 interfering, and clicking cannot be contracted by 

 horses which do not wear shoes. The profession is 

 so well aware that these faults are clue to the shoe, 

 that a whole class of shoes has been constructed, 

 each of which was supposed to have the merit of 

 obviating one or other of these defects. 



I do not make any of these statements on my 

 own very feeble authority. Every one of them is to 

 be found in such writers as Fleming, Mayhew, Lupton, 



