PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON HORSESHOEING. I27 



Now let me say a few words about the weight of the 

 horse's shoes. I have discovered in my travels through 

 America that our horses are carrying from a pound to 

 a pound and a half of iron on each foot, and in figur- 

 ing it up I make this seemingly outrageous calcula- 

 tion: A horse carrying one and a half pounds of iron 

 on each foot, making one step a second and sixty 

 seconds a minute, and running eight to ten hours a 

 day, picks up and puts down daily over seventy-three 

 tons of iron; and an animal carrying one pound of 

 iron, making the same number of steps, etc., picks up 

 and puts down fifty-two tons of iron. The following 

 will tell you exactly how much a shoe should weigh: 

 A horse weighing nine hundred to nine hundred and 

 fifty pounds, up to one thousand and thirty pounds, 

 should wear a fourteen-ounce shoe on the fore feet 

 and an eight-ounce shoe on the hind feet. This is 

 plenty heavy enough for driving and saddle horses. 

 For heavy team-horses and dray-horses, of course you 

 must use a heavier shoe; but never shoe a horse 

 heavier than his weight requires. The less iron on 

 the horse's foot, the better for the animal. 



Another great fault I have discerned in my visits to 

 blacksmith-shops all over the United States is their 

 tendency to fit the horse's foot to the shoe, and not fit 

 the shoe to the foot. The very thought of this is 

 simply ridiculous, and to take a red-hot shoe and burn 

 into place I most decidedly do not advise. I would 

 make this statement: If the smith is any kind of a 

 mechanic, and is paid well for his work, he should 

 take the iron in the bar and work it so it will fit the 

 foot in a proper manner. Then fit it on cold and not 

 red-hot, which draws a certain matter from the foot, 

 and it stands to reason is very injurious. After a 

 short time under this treatment, it will be almost imr 



