THE FORM AND MANUFACTURE OF SHOES 671 



by treading on it, and one sulllces for light work, tlie usual practice is to 

 turn up the outer heel only for all ordinary work, such as light, fast harness, 

 hacking and hunting. If, however, this is done, the inner heel must be 

 made proportionately thick, so as to give the horse a level bearing, without 

 which he never works in comfort. Many smiths maintain that this is not 

 necessary, because the calking sinks into the ground and does not there- 

 fore really raise that heel above the other. This is true enough when the 

 roads are soft ; but when they are hard, as even macadamized roads often 

 are, the calking sinks very little or not at all, and the twist complained of 

 is actually felt. It is the best practice, therefore, to shoe the hind-feet in 

 all light harness-horses, hunters, and hacks, with an outside calking, but 

 the inner web narrow but deep, or what is called '* feather-edged." This is 

 shown in Figs. 122 and 129, which are views of such a shoe, specially adapted 

 to prevent "cutting," but also, as before remarked, useful for general purposes, 

 Mr. Miles recommends instead of this, for ordinary horses, that both heels 

 should be made of double thickness for about an inch, leaving a shoulder in 

 the ground surface at that distance from the heel, but this is just as likely 

 to cause " cu.tting " as the " calking," as there need be no more projection in 

 the one than in the other, and the nearer this is to the quarter the more 

 likely it is to strike the opposite leg, this part of the foot being wider than 

 the heels. I cannot, therefore, recommejid the adoption of Mr. Miles' hind- 

 shoe, which has all the disadvantages of the double calking and of the 

 feather-edged shoe without the advantages of either. As I before remarked, 

 there can be no objection to the feather-edged shoe, which is not necessarily 

 without nails on the inside, and may be punched by using a deep fullering 

 so as to take two or three nails on that side. The toe of the hind-shoe 

 wears away very rapidly, being always brought to the ground before the 

 heel on level roads and in going up hill, in the latter especially so, while in 

 going down hill it wears away as fast as the heel. It should therefore be 

 made stouter and thicker than the fore-shoe, with a small clip in the middle 

 to prevent it from being driven back out of its seat. The back edge as well 

 as the front side of the clip shovild be well rounded, as represented in Fig. 130, 

 to prevent any risk from overreaches caused by a cutting blow from the 

 latter, while the former, if left sharp, will be liable to catch hold of the 

 projecting heel of a fore-shoe and pull it off. 



The time for removing the shoes of a horse must depend upon the work 

 he does, and the nature of his foot. If the quarters are thin or broken, the 

 less frequently the shoes are removed the better, up to a month, beyond 

 which no shoe should be allowed to remain on. Those that have plenty of 

 horn are better for a "remove" at the end of a fortnight, and the shoes of 

 horses doing no work should never be allowed to remain on for more than 

 three weeks at the outside, as the feet are far more liable to contract while 

 at rest than when at work, provided always that the latter is not so hard as 

 to produce inflammation and consequent deficiency in the secretion of the 

 born. 



During frosts, when the roads are rendered slippery by ice, the shoes 

 must be " I'oughed " in some way, to enable the horse to go with safety 

 upon it. The common method is to turn up the heels with a sharp " calk 

 ing," and sometimes also to rivet a sharpened projection at the toe. These 

 take hold of the ice and enable the horse to travel as easily as on the summer 



