CHAP. VIII. 



SHOEING OF OXEN 



153 



beaten with a hammer, and this practice repeated during the winter 

 while the steers are in the yards, they might afterwards be shod in the 

 same manner as horses, and with equal facility. 1 It is well stated that 

 little skill is required in the smith in order to adapt the shoe to the 

 foot of the ox. There is no weakness of particular parts, no corn, no 

 tenderness of frog, no disposition to contraction to be studied. The 

 simple principle is to cover the sole effectually. Around the outer 

 rim the shoe should follow the line of the foot ; it should somewhat 

 project inwardly towards the toe, and be rounded towards the heel with 



Fig. 49. Bakewell's Shoeing Shed for Oxen. 



the projection likewise inward. It should be fastened by three nails 

 on the outer edge, the posterior nail being about the middle of that 

 edge. The nails should be thin and flat-headed, so- that when driven 

 close they may occupy a considerable portion of the ground-surface of 

 the fore part of the shoe. Both the ground and foot surfaces should 

 be flat, and the shoes made of good iron, but thin and light. The 

 only difference between the fore and the hind shoe is, that the hinder 

 shoe is thinner and lighter, not quite so broad or so much curved, and 

 particularly more pointed and turned up at the toe. 



Some farmers shoe the fore-feet only, others take in the two outside 

 claws of the hind-feet. A little additional trouble or expense being 

 taken, they would be safer. 



1 On the Working and Shoeing of Cattle, see chap. viii. No. 5, on " British' Husbandry, 1 ' 

 in the Fanner's Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge. 



