336 ON SHOEING. 



they can safely be, and brought out near the inner edge of the seating. The nails 

 thus take a direction inwards, resembling that of tlie crust itself, and have firmer 

 nold, while the strain upon them in the common shoe is altogether prevented, and the 

 weight of the horse being thrown on a flat surface, contraction is not so likely to be 

 produced. 



The smith sometimes objects to the use of this sh.oe, on account of its not being so 

 easily formed as one composed of a bar of iron, either flat or a little bevelled. It 

 likewise occupies more time in the forging; but these objections would vanish, when 

 the owner of the horse declared that he would have him shod elsewhere, or when he 

 consented — as, in justice, he should — to pay somewhat more for a shoe that required 

 better workmanship, and a longer time in the construction. 



It is expedient not only that the foot and ground surface of the shoe should be most 

 accurately level, but that tli« crust should be exactly smoothed and fitted to the shoe. 

 Much skill and time are necessary to do this perfectly with the drawing-knife. The 

 smith has adopted a method of more quickly, and more accurately adapting the shoe 

 to the foot. He pares the crust as level as he can, and then he brings the shoe to a 

 heat somewhat below a red heat, and applies it to the foot, and detects any little 

 elevations by the deeper colour of the burned horn. This practice has been much 

 inveighed ao-ainst ; but it is the abuse, and not the use of the thing which is to be 

 condemned. If the shoe is not too hot, nor held too long on the foot, an accuracy of 

 adjustment is thus obtained, which the knife would be long in producing, or would 

 not produce at all. If, however, the shoe is made to burn its way to its seat, with 

 little or no previous preparation of the foot, the heat must be injurious both to the 

 sensible and insensible parts of the foot. 



The heels of the shoe should be examined as to their proper width. Whatever is 

 the custom of shoeing the horses of dealers, and the too prevalent jiractice in the 

 metropolis of giving the foot an open appearance, although the posterior part of it is 

 thereby exposed to injury, nothing is more certain than that, in the horse destined for 

 road-work, the heels, and particularly the seat of corn, can scarcely be too well 

 covered. Part of the shoe projecting externally can be of no possible good, but will 

 prove an occasional source of mischief, and especially in a heavy country. A shoe, 

 the web of which projects inward as far it can without touching the frog, afl'ords pro- 

 tection to the angle between the bars and the crust. 



Of the manner of attaching the shoe to the foot the owner can scarcely be a compe- 

 tent judge; he can only take care that the shoe itself shall not be heavier than the 

 work requires — that, for work a little hard the shoe shall still be light, with a bit of 

 steel welded into the toe — that the nails shall be as small, and as few, and as far from 

 the heels as may be consistent with the security of the shoe; and that, for light work 

 at least, the shoe shall not be driven on so closely and firmly as is often done, nor the 

 points of the nails be brought out so high up as is generally practised. 



CALKINS. 



There are few cases in which the use of calkins (a turning up or elevation of the 

 heel) can be admissible in the fore-feet, except in frosty weather, when it may in 

 some degree prevent unpleasant or dangerous slipping. If, however, calkins are 

 used, they should be placed on both sides. If the outer heel only is raised with the 

 calkin, as is too often the case, the weight cannot be thrown evenly on the foot, and 

 undue straining and injury of some part of the foot r)rof the leg must be the necessary 

 consequence. Few things deserve more the attention of the horseman than this most 

 absurd and injurious of all the practices of the forge. One quarter of rn hours vralk 

 ing, with one side of the shoe or boot raised considerably above the ether, will pain- 

 fully convince us of what the horse must sufier from this too common mrthcd of 

 shoeing. It cannot be excused even in the hunting shoe. If the horse is ridden far 

 to cover, or galloped over much hard and flinty ground, he will inevitably snfi'er from 

 this unequal distribution of the weight. If the calkin is put on the outer heel, in order 

 to prevent the horse from slipping, either the horn of that heel should l)e lowered to 

 a corresponding degree, or the other heel of the shoe should be raised to the same 

 level by a gradual thickening. Of the use cf calkins in the hinder foot wo shall 

 presently speak. 



