HORSESHOEING. 



209 



quently pulled and lost. For this reason they are inferior to 

 hand-made shoes. An undivided 'shoe (the so-called " closed 

 claw-shoe ") is unsuitable for oxen, because it deprives both 

 claws of their natural, free movements. However, such a shoe 

 is of advantage for heavy draft over hard and very rough 

 roads, because it lessens the liability of the fetlock and coronai^ 

 joints and the cleft of the claws to strains. 



Great difficulty is often encountered in holding the feet 

 during the operation of shoeing. It is necessary to fasten the 

 head securely against a tree, -pio 227 



post, or wall. A front foot 

 may be raised and held by 

 passing a slip-noose in the 

 end of a rope or side-line 

 around the fetlock and carry- 

 ing the line over the withers 

 to the opposite side, where it 

 is held by an assistant. A 

 hind limb may be controlled 

 by passing a round pole in 

 front of the hock of the leg 

 to be raised, and, with a man 

 at each end of the pole, carry- 

 ing the limb backward and 

 upward, in which position it 

 is held ; or the limb may be bent and controlled by tightening a 

 twitch or tourniquet upon the leg just above the hock (Fig. 

 228). Oxen that continue to resist may sometimes be quieted 

 by light blows of a short stick upon the base of the horns. In 

 parts of the country where many oxen are shod stocks are in 

 common use. 



Very satisfactory stocks have been designed by Gutenaecker, 

 of Munich (Fig. 229). The four comer-posts (a, a, h, h) are 

 eight inches square and eight feet long, of which three feet 

 14 



Pair of machine made ox shoes, viewed from 

 the ground-surface and in profile; a, toe-calk; b, 

 heel-calks. 



