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CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Shoeing, 

 necessity fob shoeing growth of the hoof mechanism of the 



horse's FOOT WEIGHT-BEARING SURFACES OF THE FOOT FORM 



OF THE HEALTHY FOOT PREPARATION OF THE FOOT THE SHOE 



NAIL HOLES FITTING THE SHOE PUTTING ON THE SHOE. 



Necessity for Shoeing. 



Although saddle and light harness horses may do easy work 

 without shoes on unmetalled roads in countries where the soil is 

 exceptionally dry ; it is practically impossible for them, in the 

 great majority of cases, to perform even a fair day's task unshod 

 on a macadamised track, especially if the ground is wet, as it 

 usually is in England ; for the horn of the hoof will become soft 

 and pulpy, from the fibres absorbing moisture. In ma^ parts of 

 India, as in the indigo districts, horses which have good enough 

 feet to do light work unshod on unmetalled roads during the diy 

 season, have almost invariably to be sent to the blacksmith as soon 

 as the rains commence. Not only has water a directly weakening 

 effect on horn, but the hoofs of horses which are bred in damp 

 countries are also softer and weaker than those of animals raised 

 in dry climates. The enthusiasts who advocate the insane practice 

 of working horses unshod in England, on the plea that use would 

 confer the necessary strength on the hoofs, are ignorant of the fact 

 that even those horses whose ancestors have for ages been employed 

 without shoes in exceptionally dry countries, as in the Salt Ranges 

 of thie Punjab, have been proved, times without number, to be 

 incapable of performing work on wet metalled roads, or even, in 

 most cases, when such roads are dry, unless their feet were arti- 

 ficially protected. How, then, could English horses, which are 

 reared in our damp climate, and have, naturally, hoofs of not half 

 the strength and hardness of the Eastern animals, be expected to 

 work unshod? When we come to heavy draught labour, the idea 



