194 SHOEING CAVALRY HORSES IN INDIA. 
should any nails be lost, these are renewed, till the shoe is 
very much worn at the toe, and the horn at the toe also much 
worn ; but as it is not worn sufficiently when shod, at the 
time of shoeing the depth of the hoof and shoe should be 
less, by one twelfth the width of the base, than the depth of 
the hoof at the toe of a horse to be rode without shoes, when 
the depth of the hoof at the toe should be equal to the width 
of the base, and the depth of the heels half that of the toe ; 
this gives declination to the hoof of 35° from the perpendi- 
cular in light fore-quartered horses, but in heavier fore- 
quartered horses, or in the rainy season, it may be 40° or 
more, from the points of the heels being pressed upwards or 
the sole becoming less concave. It should be the vete- 
rinarian’s object to prevent the former becoming more 
upright, the latter declining still more, by the very opposite 
paring and treatment of the feet.* 
The shoe used by regular cavalry in India is different 
from that previously described, being somewhat thicker and 
narrower in the w T eb, with a coarse German fuller; it is 
enlarged, and the nail-holes punched cold, and the German 
nail is used. 
The shoe described at pp. 125-6, No. 63, of the Veterinarian 
for March, 1853, for use in cavalry regiments at home, is not 
adapted for cold shoeing. From the concave upper surface 
it must be thicker than those now in use in India ; therefore 
objectionable, as the counter-sunk small nail holes must be 
punched when the shoe is hot, and a shoe with nail-holes 
cannot be fitted out cold ; the counter-sunk nail-hole would 
have to be large, like the French one, and half punched 
while hot. The shoe is liable to break at the nail-holes 
unless the remaining portion be punched cold, after the shoe 
has been fitted to the size of the hoof. 
It may be said, why not adopt hot shoeing? Some French 
army veterinary surgeons prefer it to the cold. I have not 
the least objection. I am not interested in the matter now. 
Where there may not be orders to the contrary, I leave the 
method of shoeing to the veterinarian’s election. All I can 
write is, whether ordered to Turkey (which is not unlikely) 
or to India, he will have what I should consider the mortifi- 
cation of seeing irregular cavalry horses’ fore feet shod with 
thin shoes, quite adequate for use in these countries, and 
with more facility than his own regimental horses, with the 
man replied, “ You see that wooden bridge in the roadway are iron bars, 
these have pulled off the shoes we have picked up ” “Ferry me over, if you 
please,” I had seen enough of English nailing and shoeing. 
* This I cannot go into now. 
