646 



less that injury is; but there is no such thing as absolute immunity 

 from an evil which must always exist in inverse ratio to the skill 

 displayed in the execution of the work. We have, however, to deal 

 with facts as Ave find them, and if we have, day after day, to impose 

 upon our horses work of a nature which entails upon their feet more 

 waste of horn than nature can replace during the ordinary interval of 

 rest, we are obliged to adopt a defense of some kind. It would be 

 futile to inveigh against the form of protection in universal use, unless 

 we were prepared vfitli a substitute not open to the same or equally 

 serious objections. 



There is, however, at least one very large and important class of 

 horses to which shoes are by no means an habitual necessity, namely, 

 our agricultural horses. The nature of their work, the pace at wliich 

 they are required to perform it, and the character of the ground over 

 which they ordinarily move, all unite to render artificial protection 

 for their feet, save under exceptional circumstances, altogether 

 uncalled for. When this is so, and when it is conceded that shoeing 

 is, even under the most favora,ble circumstances, an evil (albeit in 

 some cases a necessary one), a frequent cause of disease, and there- 

 fore a direct source of loss, it is a matter of deep regret that such a 

 large majority of our farm horses, the very mainspring of our agricul- 

 tural existence, should be needlessly subjected to a mutilation which 

 curtails the period of their natural efficiency and too often renders 

 their life thus shortened one long-continued agony. For it must 

 be borne in mind that our ordinary village blacksmith, of whose 

 dailj" work horseshoeing forms but an insignificant and by no means 

 either an easy or pleasant pai't, is not alwaj'S tlie most competent of 

 workmen. 



"Without wishing to do injustice to our rural knights of the anvil, 

 it is nevertheless a lamentable truth that these votaries of the but- 

 tress and drawing-knife are, all the world over, so wedded to a num- 

 ber of traditionary practices, so heinous, so irrational, so prejudicial 

 to the interests alike of the horse and his owner, that one might 

 well be excused for v/ondering whether their mission were not to 

 mar instead of to protect the marvelously perfect handiwork of the 

 Creator. Ignorant alike of the anatomy, jihysiology, and economic 

 relations of the parts, they mutilate, they cut and carve as whim, 

 prejudice, or time-honored custom dictates. Disaster, it may. be 

 slowly, but surely, follows, and too often the poor dumb creature's 

 suffering foots the bill. Let us glance in passing at some of these 

 traditional practices. 



Foremost among them is the insane habit of trimming tlie frog and 

 thinning out the sole till it visibly yields to the pressure of the oper- 

 atoi''s thumbs. The frog is nature's cushion and hoof-expander, placed 

 there b}^ an all-wise hand; bj'^ its elasticity it wards off concussion 

 from the less elastic portions of the structure, and by its resilience 



