150 



HORSE-SHOES, ETC. 



shoe, when the worn cog can at once be detached and replaced 

 by a new one. For winter use this method is of undoubted 

 vahie. The inventor also recommends it as a permanent 

 means of shoeing. Being without personal experience of the 

 results, we pronounce no judgment on this head. 



Toe-grips should never be higher than the calkins, but the 



Fig. 100. — Removable toe-piece. 



Fig. 101.- Removable toe-piece. 



calkins may well be- some fractions of an inch thicker than 

 above indicated. The height and breadth of the grip, and 

 even the exact position where it should be inserted, depend 

 mainly upon the way the horse moves and the wear of the 

 old shoe. Whether steel or iron should be employed depends 

 upon special circumstances. When it is necessary to increase 

 the durability of the shoe, or, as during frost, to make the 

 sharpened grips last longer, steel is the best material, but 



Fig. 1102.— Tool for removing old heel-pieces. 



when it is only a question of preventing slipping on stone 

 pavement iron is preferable. 



In fore-feet calkins and toe-grips are seldom necessary, nor are 

 they desirable for the health of the hoof ; on the other hand, in 

 winter they are sometimes very useful (see ' Winter Shoeing '). 

 In summer they do not prevent slipping and stumbling on 

 stone pavement with absolute certainty. The condition of the 

 pavement is here of less account than the convexity of the 

 individual stones ; the more convex the latter the less secure 

 the horse's foothold. In this respect careful driving is of more 

 importance than special shoeing. Though calkins are less used 



