TIPS ON SADDLE-HORSES. 121 



sequence disappearing ; while, if it be very deep, the balling does not 

 much matter. Snow will under no circumstances ball in a foot shod 

 with a leather sole, nor in a foot shod with a short tip, it being the 

 heels of the shoe that perfect this undesirable manufacture. In the- 

 ory the catch at the toe may be objected to, as being likely to make 

 the horse stumble. In practice it has not that effect, as all the 

 horses in Canada can testify. These remarks apply to harness and 

 draught horses, whose toes are bound to come to the gi-ound every 

 time they start their load. Saddle horses take a sufficiently firm 

 hold of the ground with short tips in front ; and the hind shoes should 

 have a catch rather on the outside of the toe, to obviate danger of 

 tread and overreaches. 



Omnibus horses should, in common with all others who drag heavy 

 Aveights on slippery stones, let alone ice, have the toe of the hind 

 shoe square, and a broad catch to it, the toe of the hoof projecting 

 in front. The Midland Railway Company shoe their cart horses 

 thus, and with the best results. When the foot is brought up " all 

 standing" by a toe calk, "there it is!" When by calkins at the 

 heel, the back sinew is too often strained. The observant will see 

 on cab ranks many horses whose heels behind do not touch the 

 gi'ound at all ; this contraction of the sinews is the result of the 

 above form of sprain. My brother sportsmen miast have pei-sonally 

 experienced the difference between catching the toe, and the heel, of 

 their shooting boot upon an unexpected obstacle. A few moments' 

 discomfort, and, with the possessoi-s of ill-i-egulated minds, a possible 

 malediction, see them through the first casualty ; while the loss of a 

 day's, or of several days' sport, may be the consequence of the latter. 

 Hunters in this sort of weather are on the straw ride ; but if shod 

 with short tips, they may go anywhere on the roads. 



We have lately heard a great deal about working horses without 

 shoes, but the writers on this subject have been almost to a man 

 theorists. If anyone had given his own experience, his testimony 

 would have been interesting, not to say valuable. " Free Lance " 

 appears never to have practiced what he preaches in his book, 

 " Horses and Roads," although one of his con-espondents used a 

 barefooted pony. One gentleman wrote to the Daily Telegraph to 



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