476 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
prevail, for at cavalry regimental headquarters closer attention 
is given to forage supplies. Veterinary medicines, dressings, 
and instruments are supplied, and I believe purchased, by the 
Quartermaster’s Department. They are antiquated and inade¬ 
quate and of little use in the modern treatment of disease. 
They are drawn quarterly, and frequently without reference to 
the requirements of the veterinarian, causing an annual loss 
hard to estimate. Should a modern drug be required for any 
special disease, it can be had only by special requisition on the 
Quartermaster General, and on its arrival (if it should arrive) 
the patients are more than likely bleaching on the prairie. 
I will impose one more subject on your attention in answer 
to our critics, viz., horse-shoes and shoeing. Up to 1887 
army regulations on horse-shoeing were as follows : “ Horses 
should be shod at least once a month. The length of the 
hoof indicates when a horse needs re-shoeing rather than the 
wear of the shoe. In removing shoes raise the clinches first, 
lest the crust be torn and stubs left in the horn. Pare the sole 
until it yields under the pressure of the thumb ; cut the walls 
down until they are but very little higher than the contiguous 
sole, taking care to shorten ■ the toe if necessary, it being 
frequently left too long ; cut away the bars so as to make a 
gradual slope from the walls to the bottom of the commissures, 
which must be deepened; lower and open the heels and take 
the bearing off them for at least an inch on each side of the 
frog, so that the walls at those parts will not be in immediate- 
contact with the shoe when first put on. Pay special attention 
to the removal of the pegs (the hard horny substance which 
grows down at the heel on each side of the frog and contiguous 
to it) ; these pegs are apt to contract the foot or make it thrushy 
by pinching and narrowing the frog. The frog may be pared 
to stimulate its growth and the cleft opened, otherwise it is 
left untouched. If a horse be flat-footed, pare the base or for¬ 
ward part of the hoof very little, if at all, and shorten the toe as 
much as possible. Forge the shoe to fit the foot; do not let it 
project beyond the heels ; make its lower face perfectly flat. 
Avoid nailing too far back, particularly on the inside quarter ; 
this is to be especially attended to in the fore foot. Use as few 
nails as possible. Six are enough for an ordinary fore foot and 
seven for a hind foot; horses with small feet should be shod 
forward with five nails only. In driving take care to give the 
nails an outward direction so that the points be brought low 
down in the crust. Turn the clinches down so as to be broad 
