222 HORSE-SHOEING. 



ever having the pressure that nature intended should come on it, 

 will become unable to sustain the horse's weight when the shoe is 

 taken off. 



So while we would advise the abolition of shoeing as far as 

 possible, we have too much knowledge of the horse's foot to advise 

 it in every case. There are some horses that have been shod so 

 long that their feet are in such a horrible condition that it would 

 not do at all. But there is no danger of driving or working a 

 colt, even on hard roads, without shoes, provided the wear of the 

 wall of the foot is npt greater than the growth. 



I have driven colts over hard roads and pavements for many- 

 months at a time, and they never gave any evidence of lameness. 

 But if those colts had been shod for a year or two, in the faulty 

 manner described, and then had their shoes taken off, they would 

 have become lame in a very short time. 



If the colt must be shod, we would advise the use of the shoe 

 illustrated on the first page of the essay on horse-shoeing. If 

 this shoe is properly adjusted and fitted, we are satisfied the foot 

 will never become diseased from shoeing, because it comes nearer 

 to nature, and it is impossible to improve on nature. 



"We will now have a word to say to the farrier or smith : When 

 horses are brought to them that are mischievous and bad to shoe, 

 and they have to break the horse to stand quiet as well as to fit 

 the shoes, we would advise them to charge the owner for breaking 

 the horse as well as for shoeing, for we consider it an imposition 

 on the blacksmith to bring him such horses to be shod. Time is 

 money to the blacksmith as well as to the owner of the horse. 

 However, if it is necessary to break the horse to stand quiet 

 while being shod, it is only a matter of a few minutes to break 

 him. 



Fix him in the same position and handle him all over and about 



