SHOEING
The shoeing of horses was not known to the earliest users of
horses. It is true the Romans used a sort of leather sock, with
an iron plate beneath, and the extravagant Poppæa, the wife of
Nero, had gold plates on her favorite horses, as wives of similar
traditions to-day, have silver bath-tubs and satin sheets.
When the monument to Childeric, the father of Clovis, the founder
of the French monarchy, was discovered in 1653, a horseshoe was
found therein. It was the custom then, as at one time among our own
Indians, to bury the horse and his owner together.
Polydore Vergil writes, "Hos quoque Pelethronios Thessaliae primos
equorum ungulas munire ferreis soleis coepisse ferunt."
As we have related in another chapter, William the Conqueror shod
his horses.
The horse's foot is so apparently the most important part of him
to his owner, that every horse owner should at least know the
elementary first principles of the formation and shoeing of the
foot and should always bear in mind, "no foot no horse." The foot
is a sensitive structure, with two bones and part of the third,
viz. the coffin-bone, navicular or shuttle bone, and the lower or
smaller pastern bone enclosed in a horny case. This case is deepest
in front where it is called the toe, and shallower at the sides
which are called the quarters, and narrowest behind where it is
called the heel. This outer case is fibrous, the fibres running
from above to below as they grow from where the skin terminates,
and consists of the outer case or wall and the bars, which are the
continuation of the crust under the foot, and between the triangle
of which lies the frog. (Plate XIX.)
The horse, as a wild animal left to care for himself, had a
beautiful cushion, the frog, to run on, protected by the horny,
tough case and bars, which renew themselves as do the nails of a
man.
Hard roads, heavy weights to carry and to pull, and confinement in
stables developed shoeing as a necessity.
Very few men own their horses; the horses are generally, except for
a legal right which is a formality, the property of the coachmen
and the blacksmith. They dictate when, and how, and how far they
shall go, and the owner for lack of a little study of the subject
accepts their say-so.
EXTERNAL PARTS OF THE HORSE
1. Lips 17. Back 35. Pastern
2. Nose 18. Ribs 36. Coronet
3. Face 19. Girth 37. Foot
4. Forehead 20. Loins 38. Fetlock
5. Eyebrows 21. Croup 39. Haunch
6. Forelock 22. Tail 40. Thigh
7. Ears 23. Dock 41. Stifle
8. Lower jaw 24. Flank 42. Buttock
9. Cheek 25. Belly 43. Gaskin
10. Nostril 26. Sheath 44. Hock
11. Poll 27. Testicles 45. Chestnut
11a. Throat 28. Shoulder and arm 46. Shank
12. Parotid gland 29. Elbow 47. Fetlock joint
13. Neck 30. Forearm 48. Fetlock
13a. Mane 31. Chestnut 49. Pastern
14. Jugular channel 32. Knee 50. Coronet
15. Chest 33. Shank 51. Foot
16. Withers 34. Fetlock joint
FOOT OF THE HORSE
A
_a._ The coffin bone
_b._ The lower or smaller pastern bone
_c._ The upper or larger pastern bone
_d._ The shank bone
_e._ The sesamoid bone
_l._ The navicular, or shuttle bone
_m._ Inner frog, sensitive
_p._ Seat of lameness, navicular joint
_r._ Coronary ring
B
_a._ The coronary ring
_b._ Horny lining of crust
_d._ The bars
_e._ Inside of horny frog
_f._ Cleft of the frog
_g._ The frog
_h._ Outside wall or crust
[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.--EXTERNAL PARTS OF THE HORSE]
[Illustration: PLATE XIX.--FOOT OF THE HORSE]
The feet of a horse do not wear out, as do his teeth, for instance.
An old horse may have, barring accident, just as good feet as a
young one. Nature has provided amply for the renewal of the frog
and the sole and the crust of the horse's hoof. But in order that
this renewal should not be interfered with, the foot should be
kept clean, moist, and well shod. As the foot is kept on hard
substances in and out of the stable, and not as nature intended in
contact with the moist ground, this moisture should be supplied
artificially by stopping the feet once or twice a week. If the
foot is not cleaned each time the horse comes in, the tender frog
and sole become diseased; if the frog and sole are not moistened,
but kept dry, the frog and sole crack, chip, and fail to renew
themselves properly; if shoes too big or too small, or shoes that
do not fit the crust and bars are put on, or if nails are put in
carelessly or pulled out roughly, the foot contracts, corns appear,
and you have a lame, an unnecessarily lame, horse on your hands.
The fore feet are nearly circular in a healthy horse, the hind feet
more oval in form.
It is no economy not to shoe horses at least every three or four
weeks, whether the shoes are worn out or not; for the simple reason
that the shoes are nailed to a substance which is always growing,
and after that interval of time the shoe no longer fits the foot.
The shoe should be made and put on to fit the foot, and no
blacksmith should be allowed to rasp the foot down to fit the shoe.
The crust or wall of the foot is about three-quarters of an inch
wide in most horses, and this is the proper width for the shoe, and
the shoe to be flat toward the foot. If the shoe is wider, as is
often the case,--go over your horse's feet and see,--it leaves a
little shelf for stones and dirt, and a horse going in wet, heavy
ground may even have his shoes pulled wholly off by suction. The
shoes should be as wide as this crust to the heels, but where the
crust narrows at the juncture with the bars, the shoe should narrow
too.
For the ordinary horse for riding or driving, neither a racer nor a
hunter, a shoe may weigh from nine to fourteen ounces. It is to be
remembered in this connection, that shoes grow rapidly lighter as
they get thinner from wear. This should be considered in deciding
upon the weight of a horse's shoes. Big work horses are sometimes
shod with shoes weighing five, six, and seven pounds. As few nails
as possible to make the shoe secure is best--five to seven is
enough. As the inside of the crust of the hoof is always thinner
and more elastic than the outside on account of the greater weight
it bears, contraction is generally found on the inside; use two
nails inside and three outside, or three inside and four outside,
if seven are necessary. The outside crust is thicker and stronger
than the inside crust of the heel and affords more nailhold. No
matter what the blacksmith or the coachman--who is often only
his echo--says, insist that the bars of the horse's feet shall
on no account be cut away. The wall of the hoof is not only much
weakened by this operation, but the hoof must, in consequence of
it, contract toward the heel. The reason advanced for doing this
is that it allows room for expansion, when as a matter of fact,
with the bars cut away, there is nothing to keep the foot open, and
there follow contraction and corns. Corns mean lameness, a timid
way of putting the feet down, and hence stumbling, and corns are
very difficult to get rid of. Look at the healthy foot of a horse
and see for yourself that this must be so, and then have your
horses shod as though they really belonged to you. Remember that
most blacksmiths shoe the horse to look well on the outside. It
should be your business to insist that he be so shod that the hoof
shall keep well on the inside!
To discuss different styles of shoes, questions of balancing horses
for speed or action, would require a treatise by itself.
It is fair to condense advice on the subject by saying that the
lightest and closest-fitting shoe that will suit the work and the
peculiarities of moving of the horse will be the best for him. Do
not allow paring of the sole and frog; have light shoes properly
fitted; use as few nails as possible; make the shoe to fit the
foot, and permit no rasping, burning, and paring to fit the foot to
the shoe; do not allow the front of the hoof to be rasped.
It must not be forgotten in this matter of shoeing that there are
no muscles below the knee and the hock, and the muscles used to
move the legs are high up. What weighs little at the shoulder or
stifle weighs very much more at the end of the leg. Take a stick
three feet long and put a pound-weight on it next your hand, then
transfer the pound-weight to the end of the stick next the ground,
and you see for yourself the difference. Or suppose in fencing
you put a weight equal to the handle, where the button is, and
the difference in using the weapon is enormous. A horse shod with
shoes unnecessarily heavy is at just that disadvantage; therefore
it is of the utmost importance both for his comfort and your safety
that he should be shod as lightly as is compatible with the work
required of him. In fitting the shoe, great care should be taken
that both sides of the hoof are of the same height. If they are not
of the same height, the whole foot is thrown out of plumb; this
twists the delicate joints of leg and pastern and leads to disease.
In the majority of cases that I have noticed, the inside of the
foot is left higher than the outside.
The horse left without shoes does not suffer from corns, thrush,
"speedy-cut," sand-cracks, quittor, and the like. On the contrary,
he develops and keeps in condition a foot wonderfully well adapted
to carry him and hold him. He has a wonderful cushion to run on and
take the jar off, enclosed in a fibrous case of horn. The care of
the foot and the shoeing thereof should leave as much to nature and
as little to the blacksmith as possible. Artificial conditions make
iron shoes necessary, but except for the heaviest kind of work on
the roughest and hardest roads the less shoe, the fewer nails, and
the less paring and rasping of the foot, the better. The cavalry in
this country do not shoe the horses on the hind feet unless special
service requires it.
Where a horse interferes or forges, certain changes in his
shoeing may help matters. In interfering, unless it arises from
bad malformation, the height of the shoe may be increased on the
inside, or a three-quarter shoe used on the outside; or, if this
fails, the exact opposite may be tried. The so-called Charlier
shoe, which fits into a bevelled hollow around the crust, suits
some horses.
Clicking or forging arises from the striking of the toe of the
hind shoe against the under edge of the toe of the fore shoe. It
results usually from the quicker action of the hind quarters than
the fore quarters. A remedy is to shorten the toes of the hind feet
and level off the edges of the toe of the fore shoe. Shortening the
toes of the fore feet enables the horse to raise his fore feet more
quickly and thus to get them away before the hind quarters reach
his fore feet. In hilly country, or where horses are overworked
or weakened by illness, this overreaching is most common, and
often disappears when horses get accustomed to the country, or get
stronger and better able to lift, and to carry their feet properly.