124 HORSE SENSE. 



painful as a tight fitting boot is to his owner, and under no circum- 

 stances should shoes be permitted to remain on more than a month, or 

 five weeks at the outside, and some require to be reshod more frequently. 



SMALL SIZED NAILS AND FEWER OF THEM THE BETTER. 



"The nails should be of the smallest size and of the fewest number to 

 insure the retention of the shoe the required length of time, and this is a 

 rule that should never be departed from. If the foot has been properly 

 leveled, it is surprising how few nails will hold the shoe in place, and as 

 long as is required; but if the fitting has been carelessly done, it will be 

 equally surprising how shot a time is required to loosen the clinches and 

 the shoe. 



"Two of the commonest errors in shoeing are the use of too many 

 nails, and these of an altogether unnecessary size, and then driving them 

 too high up into the walls." 



LONG SHOES AND WIDE HEELS A DECIDED DISADVAN- 

 TAGE. 



Too many blacksmiths make what is called the "over heeled" shoes; 

 that is, shoes with straight heels or calks wide apart and some distance 

 back of ihe heel of the foot as well as at the sides near the heel, and 

 their reasons for so doing is always in error. 



NATURE MAKES NO AIISTAKES IN RELATION TO THE 

 FOOT OF THE HORSE. 



Nature makes no mistakes. If the foot had needed the rear support 

 they claim for it, the colt would have been foaled with that extension of 

 the foot at the heel. And we want to imitate nature all we possibly 

 can in relation to the foot of the horse, especially at and near the heel. 

 Everybody seems to be afraid of injury to the horse's foot if not pro- 

 tected in some way, and this very so-called protection is doing more 

 harm than could possibly be counted on if left in its natural form. Who 

 ever saw corns or quarter-cracks in connection with the foot that had 

 never been shod? 



THE CHARLIER SHOE, OR TIP. 



M. Charlier, of Paris, France, some years ago invented the tip, or 

 short shoe, which bears his name, and Joseph Cairn Simpson (the well- 

 known horseman of California), as well as many others, have used 

 modifications of this shoe to their entire satisfaction. 



In preparing the foot for the shoe and sole, the frog and bars are 

 left, as they ought to be, absolutely untouched, and a groove is cut, by 

 means of a knife specially designed for the purpose, in the wall, not high 

 enough to reach above the sole level and the thickness of the wall in 

 depth. Into this groove a narrow band of iron is sunk, and nailed to 

 the foot by means of four to six conical-headed nails, the heads being 

 countersunk in the shoe. 



