58o 



The Book of the Horse. 



duty of the frog have been invented. The best is Hartman's patent combination of an india- 

 rubber sole with a thin iron plate which fits between the sole and the shoe, after being 

 compressed by a pair of pincers, used to insert the pads before leaving the stable, and to 

 withdraw them when returning. I used them during the heavy snow and frost of the winters 

 of 1878-80 with excellent effect on a blood brougham-horse. The horse did not slip, and the 

 snow did not ball in his feet. They are also a safety guard on greasy asphalte pavement, and 

 would no doubt be useful at all seasons on horses with feet tender from any cause. Sound 

 horses require nothing but well-cultivated frogs, unless it be high steppers driven on paved streets.* 



Winter shoeing is a great difficulty in the uncertain climate of England. A sudden frost 

 before Christmas makes all road travelling dangerous. If you do have them roughed the frost 

 may break up the very next day, or you may live five miles from a farrier, and when your 

 groom, after a perilous journey, reaches the forge, he finds it full of horses on the same errand. 



Mr. Fleming, in a lecture on horse-shoeing, read at the Society of Arts on the 7th May, 

 1875, describes a recent invention for rendering horse-owners independent alike of the forge and 

 the frost. " This method consists in punching a square hole at the end of each branch of the 

 shoe, and, if desirable, in the toe, and inserting into it a square, slightly tapering plug of steel, 

 with a sharp point projecting beyond the lower surface of the shoe. The plug may be from 

 one to three inches long, but it must fit the hole accurately and tightly, and not go quite 

 through the shoe to the foot. It may be tempered to give it durability. Insert it into the 

 hole, give it a slight tap on the point to fix it in until the horse puts its weight on it, drives 

 it home, and every step keeps it tighter. When required to be removed, a few taps will 

 start it, owing to the taper of the portion fitting into the shoe. An old horse rasp, value 

 threepence, will cut up into eighty-two studs, which a farrier can make in an hour. At the 

 commencement of November all shoes put on my troop horses are provided with holes ; the 

 studs are ready. If frost sets in, the studs are inserted in a few minutes, and last four or five 

 days. If required, they may be removed every night and replaced every morning, or they may 

 stay in until the frost disappears." 



With Mr. Fleming's military smiths the plan was a complete success, but with workmen 

 not so controlled and instructed it is not uncommon to find all the studs drop out in the 

 first mile. Messrs. Ofiford, the coach-makers, have also patented a .system of frost cogs. Screw 

 pegs are a very old contrivance. 



* These pads are sold by Martingall, Piccadilly. 



OFFORP S I'ATENT FROST COGS. 



