244 '^'^^ HORSB. 



That the ordinary iron shoe is the best and least hurtful means that 

 could be devised, I am reluctant to admit; but, so far, even American 

 ingenuity has failed to develop anything better suited to the purpose. 

 That the system of horseshoeing, as it is practiced, even in the most 

 skillful hands, is detrimental to the foot, no one who is conversant with 

 the facts will venture to deny. As a matter of physiological fitness the 

 shoe and its mode of attachment are utterly indefensible. Each time a 

 horse is shod (every nail driven) means so much injury to the foot. The 

 better the job the less that injury is; but there is no such thing as an 

 absolute immunity from an evil which must always exist in inverse ratio 

 to the skill displayed in the execution of the work. 



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

 to which shoes are by no means an habitual necessity, namely, our agri- 

 cultural 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, altogether uncalled for. When 

 this is so, and when it is conceded that shoeing is, even under the most 

 favorable circumstances, an evil (although 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 shortened one 

 long-continued agony. 



Far too many blacksmiths are ignorant alike of the anatomy, physiol- 

 ogy, and economic relation of the parts, they mutilate, and they cut 

 and carve as whim, prejudice, or time-honored custom dictates. Disas- 

 ter, it may be slowly, but surely, follows, and all too often the dumb 

 creature's suffering foots the bill. 



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

 thinning out the sole till it visibly yields to the pressure of the operator's 

 thumbs. The frog is nature's cushion and hoof- expander; by its elas- 

 ticity it wards off concussion from the less elastic portions of the struc- 

 ture, and by its resilience assists in maintaining the natural state, but 

 the drawing-knife's touch is fatal to it. Once cut and carved and de- 

 prived of pressure, those very acts cause it to shrink, dry, and harden, 

 and at once lose those very attributes which constitute its usefulness to 

 the foot. Robbed of its elasticity and resilience, it is incapable of dia- 



