542 AMEEICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



vent unpleasant or dangerous slipping. If, however, calking 

 are used, the}^ should be placed on both sides. If the outer 

 heel only is raised with the calkin, as is too often the case, 

 the weight can not be thrown evenly on the foot, and undue 

 straining and injury of some part of the foot or leg must be 

 the necessary consequence. Few things deserve more the 

 attention of the horseman than this most absurd and inju- 

 rious of all the practices of the forge. One quarter of an 

 hour's walking, with one side of the shoe or boot raised con- 

 siderably above the other, will painfully convince us of what 

 the horse must suffer from this too common method of shoe- 

 ing. It can not be excused even in the hunting shoe. If 

 the horse is ridden far to cover, or galloped over hard and 

 flinty ground, he will inevitably suffer from this unequal dis- 

 tribution 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 be lowered to a corresponding de- 

 gree, or the other heel of the shoe should be raised to the 

 same level by a gradual thickening. Of the use of the calk- 

 ins in the hinder foot we shall presently speak. 



CLIPS. 



.*' These are portions of the upper edge of the shoe ham- 

 mered out and turned up so as to embrace the lower part 

 of the crust, and which is usually pared out a little in order 

 to receive the clip. They are very useful, as more securely 

 attaching the shoe to the foot, and relieving the crust from 

 that stress upon the nails which would otherwise be injuri- 

 ous. A clip at the toe is almost necessary in every draught 

 horse, and absolutely so in the horse of heavy draught, in 

 order to prevent the shoe from being loosened or torn off" by 

 the pressure which is thrown upon the toe in the act of 

 standing. A clip on the outside of each shoe, at the begin- 

 ning of the quarters, will give security to it. Clips are like- 

 wise necessary on the shoes of all heavy horses, and of all 

 others who are disposed to stamp or violently paw with their 

 feet, and thus incur the danger of displacing the shoe ; but 



