HORSE-SHOEING. 215 



horse's strength being profitably utilized. These paved streets — 

 always a source of danger to the animals — while hindering them 

 from employing their force to the best advantage, are also par- 

 ticularly injurious to the legs and feet, from the incessant efforts 

 made to maintain a footing. More especially is this the case in 

 wet wether, when they are covered with greasy mud, and in 

 summer when their dry, smooth surface becomes leaded. It is 

 needless to say, that no kind of metal defence to the hoof will for 

 many days insure a firm foot-hold on such roads; and nothing 

 but a metal defence has ever been found suitable to the horse's 

 foot. 



Every device has been tried to meet the demands for traveling 

 with safety on such paved streets, and none have proved success- 

 ful. Nor is it at all likely that future inventions will meet these 

 demands ; the basaltic or granitic surface, perfectly smooth, and 

 offering a most insecure surface for fixing the foot during move- 

 ment, is not at all adapted for horse traffic. 



From the durability of these roads, they may be, to those who 

 have to pay for their construction and maintenance, more econo- 

 mical than others on which horses can journey with ease and 

 without risk of falling down ; but they are far from being econo- 

 mical to those whose carriages and wagons traverse them. A 

 portion of the horse's motive power is devoted to maintaining his 

 foothold, and the fear induced by this insecurity operates against 

 what remains being applied as profitably as it ought to be. So 

 that less is gained in the economy of construction and durability, 

 and in the easier traction of vehicles, than is lost in the injury 

 done to the horse's extremities, and the waste of power required 

 to maintain the equilibrium. 



Even more injurious to feet and limbs is the barbarous, 

 slovenly, and stupid method prevailing in this country of repair- 



