710 



SHOEING. 



nailing shoes on such feet, not to wrench or hammer the foot 



heavily. In winter, if calks must be used, let them be arranged 



something like Fig. 553; or a low, long calk can be put on well 



back under the toe. In taking off the shoes, the clinches should 



be carefully raised, and the nails, one at a time pulled out. In 



nailing on, the strokes should be 

 light, and the clenching barely 

 sufficient, by repeating light tap- 

 pings, to turn over nicely. Any- 

 thing in the way of hard, tight nail- 

 ing should be avoided. The shoe 

 should be simply held nicely in 

 place without being pulled tight. 

 There are a great many pads 

 and cushions advertised for tender 

 feet. If rubber pads be put over 

 the shoe, it is seen, in the first 

 place, that nailing on the shoe and 

 turning down the clinches suffi-; 



ciently tight, presses it down so closely as to take out all its 



elasticity ; in addition, the heels soon wear and cut through it to 



the shoe, so that they can have but little, if any, effect in relieving 



concussion. Leather well fitted 



between the shoe and foot will, in 



many cases, help considerably. 



I have found that making the 



heel-calks rather low and sharp, 



and the toe-calks well back about 



the middle of the bar, greatly 



helps in breaking concussion on 



mud roads ; as by their setting 



into the ground the force of the 



blow is much lessened. 



FIG. 555. Adapted for a hind 

 foot in aiding mobility. 



FIG. 556. Form of shoe with toe 

 simpl}' rounded. 



A great many shoes have 

 been devised for the purpose of 

 relieving concussion ; but practically they have proved of but 

 little or no value. The most successful way has been to fit two 

 thin plates with rubber between them, but it proved too expensive 

 and complicated to come into general use. (Prof. Going's Patent 



