646 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



The second rule — to maintain the integrity of the hoof 

 in form and texture, and allow freedom to those move- 

 ments of which it is capable, is one of vital importance 

 to the well-being of the animal. To indicate in a general 

 manner how it should be enforced, I cannot do better, I 

 think, than enumerate the various steps in the operation 

 of shoeing, as they have been inculcated by me for several 

 years. The directions are applicable for all kinds of 

 horses, and even for every description of foot, and are 

 those I give to the farriers under my supervision. It 

 will be perceived that what we may term hygienic shoe- 

 ing is reduced to a few simple lessons, which any one 

 may learn and readily practise, or see carried out on 

 their own horses ; and that it has nothing of the pain- 

 fully elaborate carving, rasping, nailing, and filing at- 

 tending the usual method of shoeing, and which demands 

 much skill, much labour, and after all entails grave injury 

 on the horse. 



Shoeing, as it is termed, is required either when the 

 armature has been worn out, the hoofs have grown too 

 long, or the wear and growth have both reached a stage 

 when the intervention of the farrier is needed. The 

 length of wear of the shoe will depend upon the material 

 of which it is made, its weight, and the attrition to which 

 it has been subjected. It is generally better that it should 

 wear for a long than a short period ; frequent shoeing, 

 requiring frequent nailing, damages the crust by piercing 

 its fibres and splitting them. 



The shoe is said to be 'worn out' when it has lost 

 a portion of its substance at the toe — where the greatest 

 amount of wear usually occurs, or when it has become 



