THE CARE OF HORSES. 3817 
justment of shoes to feet, but when his work is done 
it will contain no noticeable peculiarity. 
Some horses require to be shod with short shoes in 
front. I once owned a horse that, if shod too long 
in front, would catch a hind shoe in a fore one, and 
actually throw himself to the ground. It is a common 
fault of smiths to make the shoe too long, —so long, 
in many cases, that it curves in at the heel and almost 
touches the frog; whereas it ought to go no farther 
than is necessary to protect the wall of the foot from 
contact with the ground. For the same reason, that. 
is, in order to let the heels and the frog have free 
play, corks or calkins should not be used in the fore 
shoes of saddle or of light harness horses, — except, of 
course, when the roads are icy, — and it is a question 
whether they are useful on the hind shoes. The ideal 
shoe! is the lightest, simplest, smallest piece of metal 
that can be contrived to protect the wall of the foot. 
And now we come to 
BLANKETING. 
The horse requires these blankets: a linen or cot- 
ton sheet for summer, to be kept on day and night 
unless the weather is very hot; a woollen sheet, to be 
used in cool summer weather;‘and a thick blanket, 
to be used in cold weather over the linen or woollen 
sheet, according to circumstances. A woollen blanket 
of intermediate weight for fall and spring is a luxury, 
but not quite a necessity. 
1 Regarded simply as a means to locomotion. When it is a 
question of “balancing ” a trotter by means of weight in his shoes, 
another problem is introduced. See page 90. 
