530 



sueli thing as absolute immunity from an evil wliich must always exist 

 in inverse ratio to the skill displayed in tbe execution of the work. Wo 

 have, however, to deal with facts as we 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 with a substitute not open to 

 the same or equally serious objections. 



There is, however, at least one very large and imi)ortant 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 which 

 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, alfogether uncalled 

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

 under the most favorable circumstances, an evil (albeit in some cases a 

 necessary one), a frequent cause of disease, and therefore 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 agricultural existence, 

 should be needlessly subjected to a mutilation which curtails the period 

 of their natural efficiency and too often renders their life thus short- 

 ened one long-continued agony. For it must be borne in mind that our 

 ordinary village blacksmith, of whose daih^ work horseshoeing forms 

 but an insignificant and by no means either an easy or pleasant part, 

 is not always the 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 buttress and 

 drawing-knife are, all the world over, so wedded to a number of tra- 

 ditionary practices, so heinous, so irrational, so prejudicial to the inter- 

 ests alike of the horse and his owner, that one might well be excused 

 for wondering whether their mission were not to mar instead of to 

 protect the marvelously perfect handiwork of the Creator. Ignorant 

 alike of the anatomy, physiology, 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 

 all 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 the frog and 

 thinning out the sole till it visibly yield to the pressure of the opera- 

 tor's thumbs. The frog is nature's cushion and hoof-expander, jdaced 

 there by an all-wise hand ; by its elasticity it wards off concussion from 

 the less elastic portions of the structure, and by its resilience assists in 

 maintaining the natural expansion of its horny ambit; that is to say, 

 it does so in its natural state, but the drawing knife's touch is fatal to 

 it. Once cut and carved and deprived of pressure, those very acts 



