THE AORI CULT URAL JOURNAL. 



dition. But they are not. A rim of iron 

 has been attached to the lower border of 

 tlie wallj and I his rim ]ias prevented the 

 natural wear and ext'oliaiion of the sole 

 from taking- place. The shoer ought to 

 be the best judge. The sole ought always 

 to be concave. It ought always, in a 

 natural hoof, to be ahove the level of the 

 lower border of the wall. 



Little else is required. The bars 

 should never be cut away ; scooped out 

 is a more accurate term for the way they 

 are often removed ; and the buttresses l)e- 

 tween the bulbs of the frog and the heels 

 should be left intact. The frog seldom 

 requires anything l)ut the removal n{ 

 loose, ragged horn. And last, the heels 

 and whole under-border of the wall should 

 be made as level as possible by the rasp. 

 Before leaving it the foot should be al- 

 lowed to rest on a level surface, and n 

 front and lateral view of it taken to see 

 whether it seems to bear a proper rela- 

 tion to the limb. 



Re-Applying Half-Worn Shoes. 



This is perhaps the better place to refer 

 to a custom, more common among the 

 agricultural than the commercial classes, 

 of having half-worn shoes removed and 

 re-applied. They are often more than 

 two-thirds worn. Throughout Scotland 

 the practice is to have calkins and toe- 

 pieces on the shoes of horses used for agri- 

 cultural purposes. The farmer is to he 

 excused if, when slack time in the work 

 of the farm is approaching, he gives in- 

 structions that his horses' shoes are 

 to be removed and put on again. 

 But it is often a " ])enny Avise 

 and pound foolish " method. The 

 horseshoer does not put himself to the 

 same trouble with old shoes that he does 

 with new ones, and the shoes are re- 

 applied unsatisfactorily. Very often the 

 slioes are a little unequally worn — one 

 branch .and calkin more worn than the 

 other, often the outside one. The heels 

 of the shoe are healed in the forge, and 

 the calkins turned up afi'csli williout llic 

 branches being drawn one hit. The con- 

 sequence is that the shoe, which ought to 

 have been the proper length before, is now 

 as much shorter as the calkins are 



higher ; while if one calkin is more worn 

 I ban tlie other it is generally due to its 

 being more under the centre of gravity, 

 more under the axis of the limb, and that 

 branch of the shoe is now the shortest, 

 throwing it still more under the centre of 

 gravity than before. 



In addition to this, a new toe-piece is 

 often welded on to the top of the old worn 

 one, and the shoe re-applied without due 

 care being taken to observe whether the 

 bearing surface of the hoof hears that 

 relation to the axis of the limb that it 

 ouyht to do. Depend upon it that if the 

 >lioc IS unequally worn the hoof will also 

 be unequally worn, and will recjuire to be 

 dressed accordingly. The shoes, as des- 

 cribed, are put on well enough, nailed as 

 a rule, but a little more horn is removed 

 at the toes to let the shoes a little further- 

 back, as they are rather short at the heels. 

 What is the result ? The horn is raised 

 further from the ground, while he has a 

 more conlined base to stand on. His 

 tooting is precarious and insecure. The 

 base at the ground is too narrow, too con- 

 lined, for the height of the column it has 

 to support. This does not harm the hoof 

 so much as might be expected. The 

 harm is more frequently to the limbs. 

 Were the horse used on soft land the risk 

 would be less, as the foot tends to find its 

 own level ; but it often happens, when 

 work on land is not much wanted, that 

 the animal is used — it need not be at 

 hard work — on the road. 



Many a horse has shown liis first lame- 

 ness the day after his old shoes have been 

 removed. It may be spavin, it may be 

 sidebones, it may be sprain ; but the evil 

 is a notorious one, and well known to 

 every veterinary surgeon in our agricul- 

 tural districts. Let the old shoes be 

 utilised by all means if they are worth re- 

 moving, but do not let them be shortened. 

 I r one calkin is excessively worn, remove 

 the cause if po,ssible, draw that l)ranch of 

 the shoe between the calkin and the last 

 nail hole, weld on a calkin or beat down 

 ilie opposite calkin, dressing the hoof to 

 correspond, lint it is a very extreme 

 case that will justify the welding, of a toe- 

 piece on to the top of another, and even 

 then it ought to be low and thoroughly 

 beaten dmvn. 



