222 THE STOCK owner's ADVISER. 



therefore should be broader than the fore shoe. Another good 

 effect is, that the hinder foot being a little shortened, there is 

 less danger of over-reaching or forging, and especially if the shoe 

 is wider on the foot surface than on the ground surface. The 

 shoe is thus made to slope inward, and is a little within the toe 

 of the crust. The hind foot is straighter in the quarter than the 

 fore, and must therefore have a differently shaped shoe. 



The length of time that shoes may be worn without injury 

 varies with different horses. Horses with soft or pumaced feet 

 should not wear them longer than forty to fifty days. Old 

 horses, if their feet have never been injured, may keep them on 

 much longer. Young horses, with their first shoes, should not 

 wear them longer than thirty days, and should wear them only 

 part of the year. The colt should not be shod until he is three 

 years old. Shoes may be then put on at the beginning of winter 

 and remain until spring, when they are to be removed and left 

 off until the following autumn. All young horses should remain 

 barefooted as long as possible. Feet that have been long shod, 

 especially if they be weak, will always be tender, and should not 

 have their shoes removed. When horses are having a rest and 

 run at pasture, the shoes should be removed and put on again 

 when they are brought up for work. The colt should wear a 

 very light shoe, and should never be allowed to wear it longer 

 than a month. In foal, no shoe ought to be worn longer than a 

 month. The shoe should never be heavier than the work re- 

 quires, and the weak foot should never wear a heavy shoe. An 

 ounce or two in the weight of the shoe will sadly tell at the end 

 of a hard day's work. This is acknowledged in the hunting shoe, 

 which is narrower and lighter than that of the hackney, al- 

 though the foot of the hackney is smaller than that of the 

 hunter. It is more decidedly acknowledged in the racer, whd 

 wears a shoe only sufficiently thick to prevent it from bending 

 when it is used. 



