FIRE HORSES. 249 
roads being less hard and alarms less frequent, they 
go on very well for some years longer. Great pains 
are taken with the shoeing, which is under the direct 
charge of the accomplished Vet employed by the 
department. Horses used in the city proper wear 
corks on all their feet, to give them a better grip on 
slippery pavements, car-tracks, etc.; but in the suburbs 
corks are dispensed with, the shoes without them 
having this advantage, — that they let the foot down 
lower, so that it supports the weight of the horse in a 
more natural position. The frog of the foot is in- 
tended by nature to lessen the concussion by receiving 
part of the blow itself; but with an ordinary shoe, 
especially with one having corks, this function of the 
frog is very imperfectly discharged, the frog being 
kept off the ground by the shoe. What the city fire 
horses (perhaps I might say, what horses in general) 
need is some method of shoeing which will protect 
the wall of the foot, and at the same time allow the 
frog to come in contact with the ground.? 
Fire horses also throw their shoes very frequently, 
catching them in car-tracks and other projections. In 
fact, a team can hardly go to a fire without losing at 
least one shoe among them; and the continual re- 
shoeing tends, of course, to wear away the hoof. It 
is desirable, therefore, to make it grow as fast as pos- 
sible, and for this purpose it is kept well oiled. Ev- 
1 Possibly this result might be accomplished satisfactorily by 
the Charlier process, which consists in channelling the wall of the 
foot at its base, and inserting in the circular groove so formed a 
steel shoe. By this method the walls of the foot are protected as 
with the ordinary shoe, but, the foot not being raised from the 
ground, the frog comes into play, just as if no shoe at all were 
worn. 
