1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
319 
Bare-footed Horses. 
BY MASON C. WELD, 
The opinion prevails that horses’ feet are 
naturally round, or roundish, except at the 
heels, and we have smiths who show their 
skill in no way so proudly as when they turn 
a shoe as if formed by a compass. Their 
view is that a horse’s foot, if not round as a 
dollar, ought to be. I have been a horse 
owner for many 
years, and have 
been forced to 
think a good 
deal about 
horses’ feet. 
Within a few 
years past I 
have owned 
mares which I 
have bred, and 
have watched 
the changes 
Fig. 1.—A horse’s foot. 
Shows the ground surface of the hoof 
prepared for receiving a shoe; and 
marks very distinctly the difference 
between the curvature of the outer 
and inner quarters.—a, the toe—rasp¬ 
ed away to receive the turned-up shoe ; 
a 1. the inner toe ; a 2, the outer toe ; 
6 1, the inner quarter; b 2 , the outer 
quarter; c 1, the inner heel; c 2 , the 
outer heel; d d d, the sole ; e e, the 
crust or wall of the hoof; f f, the bars; 
a g, the commissures ; hk 1, the frog; 
ft, the part immediately under the 
navicular joint; k, the oval cleft of the 
frog; l, the elevated boundary of the 
cleft; i i, the bulbs of the heels. 
which take 
place in the 
foot of the 
horse from 
birth to maturi¬ 
ty. [For the 
clearer under¬ 
standing of Col. 
Weld’s article, 
we reproduce a 
cut of a horse’s 
foot (fig. 1) from “ Herbert’s Hints,” with the 
various parts marked and named.—E d.] 
The foot of a colt at birth is anything but 
round, as I sketch it from memory, much 
Fig. 2. colt’s foot. Fig. 3. colt’s foot, later. 
]ike figure 2, seen partly from behind. It ap¬ 
pears more like a cloven foot than like a solid 
one, the sides being folded, or rolled together 
under the sole. The whole mass is soft and 
fibrous, and of a light color. It soon wears 
off, and though hanging in shreds about the 
feet of the animal, within a few hours disap¬ 
pears, and the feet appear like those of horses, 
only disproportionably small. The horn is 
soft, but hardens rapidly, and the foot ap¬ 
pears like figure 3. 
The horn grows rapidly, but gravelly pas¬ 
tures wear it off, especially when it is moist¬ 
ened with dew, or thoroughly softened by the 
wet grass during rainy days. It wears quite 
evenly as to general form, but all my colts’ 
feet wore very fast at the toe, and a foot, 
when turned up, seemed to be half frog, the 
“bars” and “commissures” also being very 
strong and prominent, as in figure 4. 
Time makes few changes in the general 
form of colts’ feet up to the age of four, 
when they begin to be handled by farriers. 
I suppose if my pastures had not been so 
stony, I would have been obliged to rasp off 
the feet now and then to keep them regular, 
but as it was I saw no occasion to do so. 
One thing I have noticed which has inter¬ 
ested me much. It is this : as the weight of 
the animal increased, the quarters showed a 
weakness, and notches of greater or less ex¬ 
tent were worn at 
each side of the 
hoof at the “quar¬ 
ters,” just in front 
of the bars. So 
marked was this in 
some cases that the 
foot lost its round 
look altogether, and 
appeared much like 
Fig. 4. —OLDER COLT’S FOOT. 5 ’ Whei1 “f 1 
turned up ; or like 
figures 6 and 7 when seen from the side. 
It seems that Nature gives great promi¬ 
nence to the bars. It is they which form the 
inside buttresses to the walls of the foot; and 
against them the horn grows so tough and 
strong that natural calks, as it were, are 
formed. In our shoeing of horses we disre¬ 
gard some of the plainest and broadest hints 
given by Nature, for instead of setting the 
heel calks where they are set by Nature, we 
extend the shoe out behind the heel, and place 
the calks back of the foot, as in figure 8. 
The naked foot at the bottom is flattish, 
somewhat saucer-shaped, rounding up at the 
edge in front, and 
much rounded up 
at the heels, so that 
when set down in 
trotting, the heels 
strike first, and the 
foot rolls forward 
upon the flat foot; 
and when picked up 
rolls forward upon 
the toe (see figure 6). 
When walking the 
foot seems to be 
placed flat upon the 
motion is observed 
Fig. 5. SHOWING QUARTERS. 
ground, but the rolling 
when it is picked up. 
How distressing then it must be to the horse 
to have all this natural roll done away with 
by the sharp edged or calked shoes. 
It is clear to me that the formation caused 
by the bars, and the toughness of the horn 
where the bars are attached, give horses sure 
footing upon slippery and rocky places. The 
frog gives surer footing upon the ice, as it is 
of so soft a nature that it clings to the smooth 
surface—just as a person slips less upon the 
ice if he has on india-rubbers. 
The peasants of some parts of Europe wear 
wooden shoes from childhood, of course an 
elastic, springy gait is impossible. The feet 
Fig. 6. Fig. 7 
become flat and paddle-shaped, and after gen¬ 
erations of such abuse is it any wonder that 
a high instep and well-shaped foot is deemed 
“ aristocratic?” 
In ironing the horse’s foot, fortunately we 
do not destroy its elasticity. The elasticity 
essential to the usefulness and vitality of the 
foot is in the sole and frog, which play up 
and down with every step. Writers lay un¬ 
due stress upon the very limited elasticity 
which they think they observe in the heels 
and quarters. Shoes should be constructed 
so that the frog can come to the ground at 
every step, and I think the heels and bars 
should be left bare, so that they can meet the 
ground also. 
The formation of the crust or horn of the 
hoof is such that shoes might easily be made 
to go no farther 
back than the 
bars ; and calks, 
when calks were 
needed, placed at 
these points, 
would be a close 
following after 
nature (see fig. 9). 
The use of “ half¬ 
moon shoes” and 
“ toe-clips” is ap¬ 
proved by the best 
writers. These are advised because the toes 
are more subject to wear than any other part 
of the foot, and on gravelly roads horses wear 
their toes to the quick and go lame. It is usu¬ 
ally advised, moreover, to keep the heels well 
pared down. I am inclined to say that the 
heels of horses that are driven bare-footed, 
or with only toe-clips, should not be touched 
with the knife any more than the frog. 
With me it is a great desideratum to have 
my horses shod as small a part of the year as 
possible. They are surer-footed; their feet 
are in better order ; they travel freer on short 
journeys—I have not tested them on long 
ones ; they do not injure one another by kick¬ 
ing, and it is a saving of expense. In fact, 
considering the number of ailments brought 
about by bad shoeing and poor blacksmiths, 
and the number of horses hopelessly ruined 
by this means, and the fact that there are 
parts of the world where the roads are even 
rockier and rougher than ours, where the art 
of farriery is unknown, and the horses are all 
driven and ridden barefoot, that we in the 
country ought to do the same, and let our 
horses go barefoot just as much as possible. 
If a bare-footed horse, after the weakened 
horn and the old nail holes are worn off, and 
the hoofs are in 
good shape, be 
driven upon 
rough roads un¬ 
til tender, and 
even sore, no 
permanent 
harm will be 
done. He will 
be all right 
elf tGI ct 
days, and if lia- Fi - 9 ‘ CALKS PLACED r0KWABD - 
ble to have such work demanded of him, 
must be shod with toe-clips, or in some, 
other way have his feet protected. 
It does not do to take the shoes off and use 
the horse at once on hard roads. There is a 
liability to break and split the hoof. The 
animal should be turned into a swamp pas¬ 
ture, or into wet grass to soften the horn, 
which should then be pared or rasped off even 
with the sole. This any one can easily do, 
but it is more convenient, usually, to have the 
shoes removed by a smith, and the hoofs 
properly pared off and trimmed. Horses can 
then be used for farm work and moderate,- 
