SHOEING OF HORSES IN INDIA. 
151 
horn of the sole and frog is removed, the heel is not opened, 
and the bars are not cut away. Of course the wall and toes 
are reduced as much as the month’s growth renders neces¬ 
sary. The shoe used is a very plain one. It is of the ordinary 
breadth, but about one fourth lighter than those commonly 
used in England. It is made of equal thickness all round, 
with a single clip at the toe; is slightly fullered, is not 
“ seated,” and is attached with six countersunk nails. The 
shoe is made to fit the foot exactly at all points, no pro¬ 
jections at the heels being allowed. 
In attaching the shoe the nails are driven low and obliquely, 
the points of the nails wrung off with the pincers, a little 
notch is cut below each with the knife, and the clenches laid 
down. The rasp is not allowed to be used to the crust, 
except in close proximity to the edge of the shoe after 
putting it on, and on the ground surface of the foot when the 
shoe is being fitted. The shoes are made and turned out in 
the rough state by the native blacksmith, and so are the 
nails. The nalbund (native shoeing smith) finishes, punches 
and fits the shoes, and points the nails, without heating 
them. All his work is done with the iron in a perfectly cold 
state. The process is not a very elaborate one certainly 
to the eye of an Englishman, but the result is satisfactory. 
Corns are of very rare occurrence, and pricks seldom, very 
seldom, occur. Cases of navicularthritis are not often seen, 
and laminitis almost never. Shoes are as a rule never cast or 
nails lost. We have some cases of contracted feet, but the 
cause I consider to be the hereditary predisposition of the 
stud-bred horses, for Walers and Capes never get it. We 
have much less to complain of in the way of diseases of the 
feet than people at home. Sandcrack is, I am sorry to say, 
but too common; but then the cause is attributable to the 
hard, dry, sandy soil—the dryness, if I may so speak, of 
the climate, and the excessive heat prevailing during seven 
months of the year. 
The shoeing is entirely under the orders and superintend¬ 
ence of the veterinary surgeon, and he is answerable for it. 
In the Queen’s British cavalry regiments the shoes are put 
on by the English farriers, but in the late regiments of 
Bengal European light cavalry natives did the work until 
very recently ; and in the late Bengal Artillery (now Royal 
Artillery) natives only shoe the horses. There is a farrier 
major to each brigade of horse artillery, and two English far¬ 
riers to each battery of horse and foot artillery, who receive 
the veterinary surgeon’s orders, and see that the native 
shoeing smiths carry them out. These farriers do not shoe, 
