306 THE AMERICAN HORSEWOMAN. 



have it replaced. In such case she will find that some 

 knowledge on her part of the manner in which a shoe should 

 be fitted to a horse's foot will prove very useful. The black- 

 smith should not be permitted to cut the frog (the soft and 

 elastic substance in the middle of the foot) of the foot, but 

 should leave it entirely alone, and pare around the margin 

 of the hoof just enough to adjust the shoe evenly and firmly. 

 Country blacksmiths, as well as many in cities, are very 

 fond of paring and rasping the horse's hoof, as they think 

 they can make a neater fit of the shoe by such a course. 

 An eminent writer on the subject of shoeing states that, ex- 

 cept in case of disease, undue paring and rasping are never 

 indulged in by jiersons who understand how to fit a shoe to 

 the horse's feet properly ; he also observes : " This is paring 

 and rasping the horse's foot till it be small enough to fit the 

 shoe, rather than kindle a fire and forge a new set which 

 shall just suit the feet of the animal. It may to some read- 

 ers seem like a jest, to write seriously about the horse's 

 shoes being too tight ; but it is, indeed, no joke to the quad- 

 ruped winch has to move in such articles. The walk is 

 strange, as though the poor creature were trying to progress, 

 but could obtain no bearing for its tread. The le^s are all 

 abroad, and the hoofs no sooner touch. the ground than they 

 are snatched up again. The head is carried high, and the 

 countenance denotes suffering. It is months before the 

 horse is restored to its normal condition." 



(26.) There is not the least necessity for stables being the 

 foul smelling places they so frequently are, for if the hostler 

 and his assistants perform their duties properly all offen- 

 sive odors will be banished. A foul atmosphere in a stable, 

 besides being repulsive to visitors, is, not unfrequently, the 

 cause of blindness and otiier diseases of the horse, who will 

 also carry the odor in his hair and communicate it to the cloth- 

 ing of his rider as well as to her saddle. Yov these reasons, a 



