198 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



liberal feeding of the foal during the whole of his growth, 

 and at this time in particular. Bruised oats and bran 

 should form a considerable part of his daily provender. 

 The money is well laid out which is expended on the liberal 

 nourishment of the growing colt ; while, however, he is 

 well fed, he should not be rendered delicate by excess of 

 care. A racing colt is stabled ; but one that is destined to 

 be a hunter, a hackney, or a general horse should merely 

 have a square rick, under the leeward side of which he may 

 shelter himself, or a hovel into which he may run at night, 

 or out of the rain. 



CHAPTER XV 



THE SHOEING OF THE HORSE 



Considering the apparent simplicity of the process to an 

 ordinary observer, the method of fastening a piece of iron 

 to the horse's foot has been the occasioi\ of more disser- 

 tations, essays, guides, manuals, " practical " instructions, 

 theories, disputes, and — v/e sorrow to write it — hard words 

 and abuse, tiian any subject we are acquainted with. It 

 will be our aim here rather to simplify the matter than to 

 overload it ; and instead of wearying the reader with the 

 investigations of something like a hundred (many of them 

 ingenious) writers on the mode of defending the horse's 

 foot, endeavour to combine the proven facts of all with 

 the results of our own experience in a plain and succinct 

 compendium. 



Shoeing is a necessary evil. Among the evils inseparable 

 from every kind of metal shoe is the severe battering upon 

 hard roads, rendered j^et more severe by the interposition 

 of an unyielding substance, such as iron. Every step the 

 horse now takes is made upon iron ; and the wonder should 

 be, not that a foot occasionally gives way, but that any part 

 of a living frame should be able to withstand such treat- 

 ment. Then, not only are the roads hard, and the pace at 

 which the horse is driven along killing, but we have also to 

 weigh properly the treatment the horse receives within the 

 stable. Here he stands often for days together, cramped in 

 a stall where he can only stand ; frequently he cannot turn 



