I 



534 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



» CHAPTER XXn. 



SHOEING. 



The horse was subject to a sad necessity when shoes were 

 first put on his feet, which was probably not done previous 

 • to the twelfth or thirteenth century. 



Before this he had no protection for 

 his feet, as he needed none, except that 

 which the all-wise Creator had given — 

 the hard, horny hoof. This, in a nat- 

 ural age of the world, answered every 

 purpose; but now, in this artificial age 

 of unyielding, fiinty roads, an artificial protection seems in- 

 dispensable. 



Perhaps no greater curse has ever been inflicted upon the 

 horse than this of shoeing. His feet are injured — often 

 ruined — by it. Moreover, it frequently causes diseases which 

 ruin not only the foot, but other and more vital parts. But 

 although the evils of shoeing are many, and the sufierings 

 of the horse often great in consequence, the world's advan- 

 tage obviously requires this submission of the brute to the 

 use of man. Horses, if used at all on our present roads, 

 must be shod. All that we hope to do, in writing on this 

 subject, is to prevent, as far as possible, the unnecessary in- 

 fliction of these evils upon the horse, by pointing out wherein 

 they exist, and recommending a better practice than is usual 

 in the art of shoeing. 



The subject, horse-shoeing, has been discussed for ages, 

 and hundreds have been the inventions for the improvement 

 of the shoe ; yet but little progress has been made, and the 

 subject is scarcely better understood than it was a century 

 ago. But, indeed, the prevalent evils in the practice of 



