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CHAPTER XXXII. 



Shoeing, 

 necessity for shoeing growth of the hoof mechanism of the 



horse's foot WEIGHT-BEARING SURFACES OF THE FOOT FORM 



OF THE HEALTHY FOOT PREPARATION OF THE FOOT THE SHOE 



NAIL HOLES FITTING THE SHOE PUTTING ON THE SHOE. 



Necessity for Shoeing. 



Although saddle and light harness horses may do easy work 

 without shoes on unmetalled roads in countries where the soil 

 is exceptionally diy; it is practically impossible for them, in 

 the great majority of oases, to perform even a fair day's task 

 unshod on a macadamised track, especially if the ground is wet, 

 as it usually is in England ; for the horn of the hoof will become 

 soft and pulpy, from the fibres absorbing moisture. In many 

 parts of India, as in the indigo districts, horses which have good 

 enough feet to do light work unshod on unmetalled roads during 

 the dry season, have almost invariably to be sent to the blacksmith 

 as soon as the rains commence. Not only has water a directly 

 weakening effect on horn, but the hoofs of horses which are bred 

 in damp climates are also softer and weaker than those of 

 animals raised in dry climates. The enthusiasts who advocate the 

 insane practice of working horses unshod in England, on the 

 plea that use would confer the necessary strength on the hoofs, 

 are io'norant of the fact that even those horses whose ancestors 

 have for ages been employed w^ithout shoes in exceptionally dry 

 countries, as in the Salt Ranges of the Punjab, have been proved, 

 times without number, to be incapable of performing work on wet 

 metalled roads, or even, in most cases, when such roads are dry, 

 unless their feet were artificially protected. How, then, may I 

 ask, could English horses, which are reared in our damp climate, 

 and which have, naturally, hoofs of not half the strength and hard- 

 ness of the Eastern animals, be expected to work unshod? When 



