202 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



dries, cracks, and breaks, and does not afford sufficient support 

 to the nails. 



The evils of shoeing, as too often practised, are : — 1. Paring 

 of the sole and frog ; 2. Applying shoes too heavy and of a 

 faulty shape ; 3. Employing too many or too large nails ; 4. 

 Applying shoes too small, and removing the wall of the hoofs 

 to make the feet fit the shoes ; 5. Easping the front of the 

 hoof. 



The shoe should give the hoof a level, natural bearing on 

 the ground. Calkings are hurtful to fast-moving horses, and 

 may be dispensed with if the shoes have a concave ground 

 surface, and the frog is allowed to come fully in contact with 

 the ground; if they are resorted to, their injurious effects 

 should be averted by employing a toe-piece of the same height. 



For the racehorse, the narrowest iron rim is sufficient, pro- 

 vided it is strong enough not to twist or bend, and to permit a 

 grip of the ground. For hunters, hacks, and harness horses, a 

 shoe of the modified pattern described, and here figured, is well 

 adapted. Even the ordinary fullered hunting pattern, but 

 without the calking on the hind shoe, is infinitely more pre- 

 ferable to that usually employed for hacks and harness horses. 

 For these no better kind of shoe can be recommended than 

 that recently introduced for troop, artillery, and transport 

 horses in Her Majesty's Service. This is, in shape, based on 

 the requirements pointed out, and which it meets in every 

 particular. Since its introduction it has admirably fulfilled all 

 the requirements of a perfect horse-shoe. 



Hitherto great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining 

 shoes of good material, uniform shape, and easy application. 

 But the introduction of machinery into horse-shoe manufacture 

 promises to revolutionise the farrier's art. The Horse-shoe and 

 Nail Manufacturing Company, of London,* are now producing 



* Offices, 115, Cannon Street, London, E.C, 



