IMPKOPER SHOEING. 97 



and keep it. It lias a rugged appearance that "will mor- 

 tify the blacksmith, but will retain the moisture better 

 than any stopping, and when the surplus portion needs 

 removal, will exfoliate before it comes in the way. Many 

 blacksmiths will need watching, in their anxiety to do a 

 finished job, which consists in paring away sole and frog, 

 opening the fissures between the bars and frog, and 

 rasping the outside of the horn to within an inch of the 

 hair. The natural mechanism of the horse's foot is beau- 

 tiful. His domestication requiring of him artificial duties 

 necessitates artificial aid. How much it ought to be our 

 study to ameliorate the ills forced on him, and make the 

 willing servitude, as much as lies in our power, a pleasure ! 

 In no way can there be so much unnecessary suffering 

 relieved as by attention to shoeing. Any one who will 

 take his station for an hour on the crowded streets of a 

 city will be convinced of this. How rarely do you see a 

 horse stepping out with the free, grand motion, resulting 

 from sound feet and limbs. They come hobbling by, 

 some of them with dauntless spirit, enduring torture, 

 partially hidden by a jaunty air, that would make the 

 most heroic biped grate his teeth with pain. 



"Never Mind" we will have shod with a shoe weighing 

 about twelve ounces. From the description you give of 

 his manner of going, he has, probably, rather an excess of 

 Imee action, and by putting on rather a light shoo we 

 will remedy it. His hind shoe should not weigh over a 

 third as much; and to guard against getting on his 

 quarters, we will have them made as I described, and set 

 a short distance back from the toe, which must project 

 over the shoe about half an inch. 



Bad driving, as I said before, has as much to do with 

 horses striking their quarters as anything else. When a 

 horse breaks and is jerked from one side of the track to 

 the other with all the strength a man possesses, there is a 



