88 THE CARE OF HORSES 



beside being useless. Putting a shoe on the foot of 

 a horse prevents the wearing down of the hoofs as 

 Nature intended, in order to keep the proper shape 

 and proportion, as may be seen in wild horses or 

 those used in hot and desert climes, where they are 

 not shod. The rasp should only be used to level the 

 sole and to assist in clenching the nails. Never 

 allow the foot to be rasped all round to make it ' look 

 pretty,' as this engenders sandcrack, brittle hoofs, 

 and pedal deformities. 



Fitting the Shoe. — The shoe should be made to fit 

 the foot, not the foot to fit the shoe. It should be 

 nicely hot, but not too hot, to obtain an equality of 

 surface, and care should be taken not to have long 

 ends protruding beyond the foot, as this is bad in 

 every way. It often makes a horse ' forge ' or clink 

 his feet together, and in the stable often causes 

 capped elbows. This is frequently seen in cart- 

 horses, who are more often than not carelessly shod 

 by the village blacksmith aforementioned. Beside 

 being very unnecessary and ugly, there is no reason 

 why the poor hard-working horse should have such a 

 lot of superfluous weight added. Think how terribly 

 tiring it is yourself to be obliged to wear great heavy 

 boots if you have much walking to do. As the hours 

 go by they seem to gain weight as the tired and 

 heavily-laden feet drag along the heavy road. 



The style of a horse's going must be considered in 

 shoeing him. If he 'goes close' his shoes must be 

 feather-edged ; if he is inclined to ' hammer ' his feet 

 down, have him shod with leather or rubber pads. 

 In winter be careful that he is provided with frost- 

 nails or screws, to prevent him slipping. 



Fig. 44 shows the foot trimmed, but you will 

 notice the frog has not been pared away, only the 

 worn and broken surface cleared, and the toe is 

 nicely smoothed and even, capable now of hard 



