168 HORSE-SHOEING. 



amount of weight raised has reached the enormous figure of 

 115,200 pounds. But the movement communicated to these 

 115,200 pounds represents an expenditure of the power employed 

 by the motor without any useful result ; and as the motor is a 

 living one, this expenditure of strength represents an exhaustion, 

 or, if you like it better, a degree of fatigue proportioned to the 

 effort necessary for its manifestation." 



This question of weight is one of no small moment to the 

 well-being and utility of the horse, and therefore demands par- 

 ticular attention. Nature, in constructing the animal machine, 

 and enduing it with adequate power to sustain the ordinary re- 

 quirements of organization, and even to meet certain extra- 

 ordinary demands, could scarcely have been expected to provide 

 the large additional amount of energy necessary to swing several 

 ounces, or even pounds, attached to the lower extremity of the 

 limb. A horse shod with a two-pound shoe to each foot, travel- 

 ing at the rate of sixty steps in a minute for a period of four 

 hours, as has been stated above, carries nearly fifty-two tons. 

 This weight, too, as has been stated, is most disadvantageously 

 placed at the end of the long arm of the lever. It must be 

 remembered, also, that a two-pound shoe is a very moderate 

 affair when compared with many that are worn every day in town 

 and country, even by horses employed in fast work. 



Not only does an ivnnecessarily heavy shoe fatigue and 

 wear out the limbs sooner than a light one, but the fatigue 

 it induces causes it to be less durable, in proportion to the 

 quantity of iron. This is accounted for by the manner in 

 which the fatigued limbs drag their heavy load along the 

 surface of the ground. Heavy shoes also require more and 

 larger nails to attach them securely to the hoof, and this in 



