CHAPTER III.

SHOEING--ITS ORIGIN, ITS USES, AND ITS VARIETIES.

=Shoeing= a horse is understood to signify fastening a piece of iron

to the horn which envelops the foot of the animal. Such an operation,

at first glance, appears to be so simple an affair as to admit of few

remarks; but there is no subject associated with veterinary science

on which more research has been expended, about which more bitter

discussion has been indulged, or with regard to which proprietors and

practitioners are more at variance. Certainly no matter can possibly be

more intimately connected with the sufferings and the comforts of the

equine race.

[Illustration: EARLY ARABIAN SHOE.]

[Illustration: ARABIAN SHOE OF A MODERN DATE.]

The custom of fixing iron to the hoof of the quadruped would seem, at

the present moment, to be all but universal. This habit was probably

derived from the East. In portions of the Desert of Arabia a primitive

looking shoe is still employed, which, like most things in that region,

has possibly remained unaltered during the passage of centuries. Such

articles retain the impress of a by-gone era, being merely pieces of

sheet-iron stamped, not forged, according to a particular pattern.

The reader may be puzzled to form an accurate notion of such things;

therefore illustrations, representing present and ancient shoes, are

appended. Both partake of the same general characteristics, but, among

a people so widely scattered as “the children of the Desert,” doubtless

numerous variations, as regards particulars, might be selected.

[Illustration: A MOORISH, A PERSIAN, AND A PORTUGUESE SHOE. COPIED FROM

GOODWIN’S SYSTEM OF SHOEING HORSES.]

The preceding look like things produced during the childhood of

civilization; but to assure the reader that at one period horse shoes

resembling the foregoing were almost universal, below is subjoined

sketches of those adopted, even at a recent date, by the Moorish,

the Persian, and the Portuguese nations. These people are widely

distributed; but they all are characterized by the tenacity with which

each has clung to the habits of its ancestors. The shape pervading the

examples brought forward is too eccentric, the generic likeness is too

remarkable, and the peculiarities of feature impressed on each is too

conspicuous, to permit of their united evidence being pushed on one

side with any commonplace reference to an accidental resemblance.

[Illustration: OLD ENGLISH SHOE. COPIED FROM CLARK’S WORK ON SHOEING.]

Succeeding the former engravings is appended an authentic sketch of

the old English horse shoe which was in common use at the commencement

of the last century. When compared with the plate of the Arab, which

doubtless was the original, it assuredly exhibits signs of intention.

The calkin, intended to prevent slipping, we here see, as likewise

in the foregoing examples, is by no means a modern invention. The

position of the nail holes has been materially altered: they have

been moved from the center, and have been made to range around the

outer margin and to pierce the solid horn of the toe, which previously

was scrupulously spared. The fastenings, likewise, have increased in

number, having grown from eight to fourteen. The central opening has

been enlarged; but the thickness of the iron and the general figure,

however, demonstrate the source whence the original was derived.

Thin plates of iron were once nailed as shoes to the hoofs throughout

Great Britain. The breadth was not, perhaps, considered a decided

disadvantage, when roads were few and much marshy soil had to be

crossed in a day’s journey. But if this peculiar form enabled a steed

to walk more securely on a soft surface, the suction, inseparable

from such land, must also have exposed the animal to the frequent

loss of the appendage. When regarding these unavoidable results,

we can perceive the reasons which have dictated all the subsequent

alterations. The central opening had been enlarged, in the expectation

of thereby counteracting the sucking effects attending the movements

over a marshy country; while the nails had been increased in number,

in the expectation of thus gaining additional security. The fastenings

had likewise been ranged round the rim, so that these might be driven

directly through the hardest part of, and have longer hold upon, the

most resistant portion of the horn.

Such plates were at one time, no doubt, in general use throughout

Great Britain; and illustrating whence they were derived, there may be

adduced a well-known fact. The race-horse is of almost pure Eastern

blood. The trainer’s stable is a very conservative locality, into

which changes slowly enter, and where names are retained long after

their applicability has ceased. A thorough-bred is spoken of to this

day as running in “plates;” although the contest is decided in shoes

resembling those worn by other animals, only of lighter make and of the

highest possible finish.

The aspect of the old English shoe evidently suggests a resort to the

hammer; it also indicates that the introduction of regular roads had

began to compel the employment of a closer and harder species of metal

than heretofore had been esteemed necessary. No modern Nimrod dare,

however, essay to career across the best-drained portion of country

on a horse shod with such a shoe as that last represented. Before a

second field were entered he would anticipate a steed with bare feet.

No cabman, however reckless, would take a quadruped on to the rank

shod in such a fashion. Were an article of this form brought out now,

no one who knew anything of such matters would patronize the novelty.

Nevertheless, though it be deficient in all present requirements, it

displays certain features, which have been preserved by the smith and

handed down from father to son until the supposed improvements have

reached the existing generation.

The arrangement of the nails near to the outer edge, and the fixing of

them into the hard outer wall of the crust, are methods still followed,

though experience has demonstrated that such numerous bodies, driven

almost perpendicularly into a thin and a brittle substance, were better

calculated to break the hoof than likely to hold on that which it was

their single office to retain. The modern smith, moreover, does not

generally puncture the toe of the foot; but the situations of the nail

holes and the direction of the nails within such a part must have been

originally regarded as a vast improvement upon the prevailing customs.

That which was formerly an innovation is, however, now the custom. No

other mode of driving the nails is at present in general practice;

though the modern veterinary surgeon recognizes all the evils which

attend the habit, yet these evils he contentedly classes as diseases,

instead of seeing in them the natural consequences of a faulty system.

[Illustration:

THE PRESENT METHOD OF FASTENING THE ENGLISH HORSE SHOE ON TO THE

HORSE’S FOOT.

]

In the sandy Desert of Arabia, where a flat and perfectly dry country

rendered suction impossible, any degree of tension, however feeble,

might serve to keep the horse’s shoe in its situation. On such a soil,

eight lateral fastenings--each no stronger than a stout wire--might

afford all needful security. The size of the holes assures us of the

bulk of the nail heads, the projection of which, probably, served to

give security to the tread, as well as to retain the metal; being

inserted at one end and driven with the hammer to the other extremity

of the opening, they might be an ample provision for such a purpose,

when the desert permitted no vast amount of wear, and the nature of the

animal assured lightness of motion.

The English reader may feel disposed to sneer at the Asiatic manner

of fastening the shoe upon the horse’s hoof; but he will do well to

inquire, “whether the modern method of attaining the same object is

altogether free from objection?” To enable him to do this, it is

necessary that the composition of the outer wall of the equine hoof

should be explained.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF HORN

COMPOSING THE HORSE’S HOOF.

_a a._ The wall. The outer dark portion is called the crust of

the wall, and the light-colored, soft, inner horn is thrown into

the laminæ, or thin leaves, whereby it gains extent of attachment

to its secreting membrane.

_b._ The light-colored and yielding horn of the sole.

_c._ The tinted but elastic horn of the frog.

]

The =wall= of the foot is so much horn as can be seen when the hoof

rests upon the ground, and when it is viewed either immediately from

the front or directly from the sides. This wall is supplied from two

sources. The coronet, or the prominence to be seen immediately above

the hoof, secretes the outer layer of horn, which is the darkest, is

very much the hardest, and is the most brittle of all the constituents

of the hoof. The laminæ, or the highly sensitive covering of the

internal foot, secrete the inward layer of horn, which is soft, tough,

and devoid of color.

These two opposite and distinct secretions are, by nature, joined

together, forming one body. Now, the intimate union of opposite

properties endues the substance, thus compounded, with the

characteristics of both. The hard, outward horn was needed to protect

the foot against those stones and rocks over which the animal was

intended to journey. The internal, white horn, being fastened upon

this substance, acted as a corrective to its harsh nature, preventing

it from breaking, from splitting, and from chipping, which it else

must have done under the weight it was destined to sustain, and when

fulfilling the purposes to which the horse’s foot was designed to be

subjected.

[Illustration: FALSE QUARTER, OR A DEFICIENCY OF THE OUTER WALL.]

[Illustration: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RELIEF FOR FALSE QUARTER.]

[Illustration: SECTION OF A HORSE’S FOOT AFFECTED WITH SEEDY TOE.]

[Illustration: A FOOT WITH SANDCRACK.]

Pathology has indirectly recognized the intention of this junction, by

acknowledging that condition to be a state of disease, wherein the two

kinds of horn are separated. Such a division is known as a seedy toe

and as false quarter; and the foot is recognized as weakened when such

a want of union is discovered. The outer, dark-colored horn becomes

more brittle; the white, internal horn grows more soft for the want of

that junction by means of which each communicated its attributes to

the other. So also when the two descriptions of horn, although united,

cease to influence one another, pathology acknowledges this condition

as a morbid alteration, known as a changed state of hoof. Thus, when a

sandcrack is visible, or the wall divides from the ground surface to

the coronet, the foot’s incasement is recognized as unhealthy; but in

the forge, the application of such facts is, by most smiths, utterly

ignored.

The untutored Arab, however, takes advantage of the united properties

of the horn. In warm countries the horse’s hoof grows strong and thick.

The uninstructed Asiatic allows the wall to descend half an inch below

the sole, and right through the entire of this portion of projecting

hoof he drives the nails which secure the shoe. Proceeding thus, he

does not injure the foot by the insertion of foreign bodies through

its more brittle substance, while he secures the united resistance and

tough qualities of the complex covering of the foot.

[Illustration:

THE MODE OF FASTENING THE ARABIAN SHOE TO THE HOOF OF THE HORSE.]

[Illustration:

FRACTURED CONDITION OF THE HORN, CONSEQUENT UPON DRIVING NAILS

THROUGH THE BRITTLE OUTER CRUST OF THE WALL.

]

The English smith, on the contrary, by ranging the holes for the

fastenings round the edge of the shoe, drives the nails only into

the harder kind of horn, and transfixes the crust for a considerable

distance. The English shoeing nail is meant to pierce only the black

or outward substance of the wall. This may, seemingly, afford the

better hold; but it also offers the more dangerous dependence. There

is, likewise, the peril to be braved of pricking the sensitive foot,

should the nail turn a little to one side--an accident which not

unfrequently happens. There is, moreover, another danger, namely, that

which the forge calls driving a nail “too fine;” that is, forcing it

near the white horn rather than sending it directly through the center

of the narrow dark crust. There remains to be enumerated a third peril.

Horses, with thin walls, present difficulties to the shoeing smith. He

is afraid of either pricking the foot or driving the nail “too fine;”

should the last accident ensue, the nail will, upon the animal being

worked, bulge inward, will provoke acute lameness, often causing pus

to be generated. To avoid these evils, he points his nails outward;

and, by so doing, not unseldom induces the harsh outer crust to crack,

to split up, or to chip off. To such an extent does this sometimes

happen, that the smith is occasionally puzzled to find the place where

a nail will hold.

It is a common thing to hear veterinary surgeons, throughout the length

and breadth of the land, attribute to the operation of shoeing all

the evils by which the hoof is affected. They generally assert that a

colt invariably has an open, healthy foot, until it is shod; but, from

the day upon which the animal enters the forge, the horn begins to be

irregularly secreted, and the hoof to grow misshapen; while horsemen

have a well-known saying, that “one horse could wear out four pair of

feet.”

Every rider knows how vexatious it is for a horse to fling a shoe.

Every horseman appreciates the consequence of walking his steed, even

one mile, along the common road, to gain the nearest forge, where the

loss may be made good. Such an accident were an impossibility, if the

nails were firm. There is always danger, as they are at present fixed,

of these fastenings breaking away from the substance of the hoof; yet

no one has hitherto ventured to question the existing method of shoeing

prevalent throughout Europe.

[Illustration:

THE SHOE PARTIALLY BREAKS FROM THE INSECURE FASTENINGS, AND ONE OF

THE NAILS, STICKING UP, PIERCES THE SOLE OF THE FOOT.

]

But the worst evil which results from a shoe becoming partially

released, is neither the inconvenience it occasions the rider, nor

fracture, often produced, on the hoof of the animal. Some portion of

the horn first yields. This mishap throws greater stress upon the

remaining fastenings. The shoe becomes loose. The majority of the nails

give way, but one may continue firm. This is the greatest peril. The

shoe is fastened as by a pivot, and with every step swings from side to

side. The released nails stick upward--the earth or roadway, as well

as the clinches, preventing these from leaving their places. When the

foot is in the air, the shoe hangs pendulous. When the foot is placed

upon the ground, it may be impaled upon the nails that protrude upward.

Many steps are seldom taken without such a result. The shoe gets under

the foot. The blunt and jagged points are, by the huge weight of the

quadruped, forced through the soft sole or frog at the bottom of the

hoof; a dangerous wound is inflicted, the uneven metal being often

driven for some distance into the body of the coffin-bone.

Against the Arabian method of driving the nails, it may be advanced

that if the equine hoof is permitted to grow, the elongation of the

horn at the toe and its non-removal by the knife would occasion this

portion of the foot to protrude, and ultimately curl upward like a

Turkish slipper--such being the result of long-continued neglect, as is

exemplified in the feet of too many donkeys.

[Illustration: THE NEGLECTED AND LONG UNSHOD HOOF OF AN ASS.]

[Illustration: ENGLISH MODE OF PARING THE HORSE’S HOOF.]

It is not proposed to subject the horse’s foot to anything like

the usage to which the hoof of the ass is habitually exposed. All

the writer contemplates is moderating the smith’s employment of

the drawing-knife and of the rasp, enforcing some caution in the

application of the red-hot iron, when burning a seat for the shoe. Why

need the wall be always cut away till it is level with the horny sole?

Why bring this last portion of the pedal covering, which is naturally

soft and yielding, on a line with that part of the crust which is

imbued with a power of resistance? Nay, the harder wall is protected by

the shoe on which it rests; while the softer sole is brought near to

the ground, being left exposed to an injury, which the lesion known as

bruise of the sole proves not unfrequently to happen.

The sole, being exposed thus close to the earth, is the fruitful source

of several “accidents.” The soft horn of this region being brought

so low, is rendered constantly wet. The consequence is a harshness

of texture, perfectly opposed to the evident intent of nature. This

harshness is one of the most common sources of corns. The edge of the

sole rests upon the web of the shoe--the descent of the coffin-bone,

being unable to play upon a yielding sole, squeezes the flesh between

the inferior surface of the bone and the upper surface of the shoe.

This is acknowledged as the principal source of corns. Stones and other

rubbish often become impacted between the horny sole and the shoe.

In this situation, the foreign substances are retained so firmly and

provoke such acute lameness that it is common for all stable-men to

keep by them, as well as it is general for most horsemen to carry, a

curved tool denominated “a picker.” Such annoyances, with many others,

might be easily avoided, could the English smith only be prevailed upon

not to pare the sole so thin that blood bedews its surface, and then to

make the level of the diminished part the point whereto the crust is to

be lowered.

Another probable consequence, attending the customary cutting away of

the horse’s sole, has not been sufficiently considered.

The shape of this part, its yielding character, and its position

immediately under the coffin-bone, all should be accepted as proofs

that it is of service in supporting the weight of the body. It proves

nothing to assert that if the sole is removed, the pedal bone will

not fall down. The burden may repose upon the numerous laminæ and

upon the bulging rim of the coronet, as well as drag upon the lateral

cartilages. Here is sufficient material to uphold even a greater

load; but can such a force be arbitrarily imposed by human authority

without provoking nature’s resentment? The parts here named are the

very regions which are the common seats of foot disease. Ossified

cartilages--irregular secretion of coronary horn and laminitis, in the

acute or in the chronic form--are very common to stables; so also is

navicular disease, which the trimming of the frog is also likely to

induce. Horse proprietors, therefore, would do well to reflect upon

the above possibility, when their property is again submitted to the

unchecked abuses of the forge.

Humanity is not pleaded in this case. Human interest alone is urged in

favor of the plan proposed. Every horse owner knows how common it is

for the animal to return tender-footed from the forge. Every person can

appreciate the unpleasant sensation experienced when a nail has been

pared to the quick.

Immediate lameness, or violent exhibition of acute disease, is

required to convince some people that dumb animals feel anything; but

a peculiarity displayed in the manner of placing the foot on the earth

is, to the author’s mind, sufficient proof of some painful sensation.

In two or three days, the newly-exposed horn may resume its protective

function, and the mode of progressing, by such a time, is generally

restored to its accustomed soundness. But such is not invariably the

case, and, when it does happen, the seeds of future disaster may,

nevertheless, have been sown. Indeed, so conscious are dealers of the

injury done to the horse’s foot by the rasp and the drawing-knife,

that, as a rule, they avoid having their new stock reshod while these

animals remain in their possession.

To rectify the foregoing evils, the author would humbly propose that

half an inch of crust should be allowed to protrude below a sole of

moderate thickness. That all idea of breadth of shoe affording the

slightest protection be at once abolished; because the broad web has

been proved, by the general employment of the picker, rather to afford

harbor to hurtful particles than to protect the sole from injury.

That the shoe be made only just wide enough to afford bearing to the

wall of the hoof, and to allow sufficient room for the nail holes to

pierce the substance of the iron. The crust was designed to sustain

the weight of the animal’s body, and the most ignorant smith would not

think of permitting the entire burden to bear upon the sole. A space

large enough to give room for the nails and to provide an ample rest

for the wall of the hoof is all that can be of use; and, being so, all

additional width only renders the shoe of an unnecessary weight.

The use of the sole is well known to be distinct from directly

supporting any portion of the body; but it may be of all service in

upholding occasional weight. That other parts receive the primary

burden, is illustrated in the forge every day--it being an ordinary

custom with the smith to pare the sole of the foot till it yields

readily to pressure from the man’s thumb, or until blood oozes through

every pore of the structure. A further proof of this is the custom of

removing a portion of sole when the animal chances to be bled from the

foot; also, by the veterinary surgeon, without hesitation or fear of

consequence, taking away large pieces of the horn whenever the sole

happens to be bruised and under-run. The function of the sole is to

endue the tread with spring and elasticity; that it may perform its

proper office, the removal of it from all possibility of hinderance to

its freedom of motion becomes a necessity. This requirement is best

complied with by allowing the part to remain so high as anticipates all

possibility of its coming in contact with either the web of the shoe or

the ground.

Nature makes nothing in vain; or, in other words, every part which she

creates has its destined uses. To recognize such a maxim, and then to

employ a smith to destroy the horny sole which nature provided, is to

acknowledge wisdom, but to follow ignorance. At all events, putting

every appeal to higher principles of action on one side, let mere

cunning or let worldly prudence decide the point. The present method

has been tried, and has lamentably failed; consequently it is proved an

annoyance which countenances any feasible change.

[Illustration:

ILLUSTRATING HOW LARGE AND SMALL STONES BECOME IMPACTED BETWEEN THE

SOLE AND THE WEB OF THE SHOE.

]

But those who are prejudiced in favor of the usual proceedings may

exclaim against the annihilation of the web, and talk about the need

of protecting the sole. The old English shoe (in which the web was

so broad the horse’s foot rested on a flat metallic surface) did not

defend the sole, else the web would not have been sacrificed. But what

kind of protection does the present form actually afford? Why, its only

use really appears to be that of affording a place of lodgment for

gravel and for pebbles, or of a medium for the generation of corns.

Were half an inch of crust allowed to remain, the web and all its

dangers might be abolished. The weight would thereby be lightened,

while the tenacity of wet clay would be deprived of any leverage on

which to act. Two primary requisites toward a good hunting shoe would

then be obtained. The nail openings also being brought close to the

inner margin, and the fastenings being driven in a direction slanting

outward, a hold would be taken of both species of horn which unites

to form the wall of the foot; and the nails, being firmly clinched

upon a tough body in lieu of a brittle substance, would be retained

with greater certainty. The weight of metal required for such a shoe

would be decreased, thereby materially lessening the labor of the

horse; while if the nails pierced the toe of the crust, a firmer hold

would be obtained, and the quarters would be left free instead of

being fettered, as is unavoidable so long as the present system of

nailing is continued. Corns, bruise of the sole, brittle hoof, etc.

would be avoided, and the dangers of the forge no longer perpetuated.

Lastly, the comfort of the animal being more tenderly considered, the

motions of the quadruped would be so much the easier, and the more

pleasant--man’s real interest being best consulted by strict attention

to the happiness of all the lives which serve him, as every form of

existence succumbs to protracted suffering.

The reader, however, may have experienced the deception which commonly

attends every novelty in horse shoes. Therefore he may think, when

the author proposes a return to an old, a barbarous, and an exploded

form of fastening on the horse’s shoe, he simply aims at trying an

experiment with the living property of other people. The writer does

not propose to contend against suspicions; but he produces the plan

which he advocates, and contrasts it with the ordinary method of

nailing; when, having placed the evidence before his judges, he leaves

them to decide on the merits of the adverse modes, as regards their

likelihood to perform the offices of retaining a ring of iron with

safety and with advantage upon the foot of a horse.

[Illustration: THE AUTHOR’S PROPOSED MODE OF NAILING.]

According to the above plan, the hold would be much firmer; it would

embrace the two kinds of horn which nature ordained should unite to

form the wall of the hoof. The nail would pierce those tough and

resistant substances which were designed in their unity to support

the animal’s body, instead of being driven perpendicularly into the

more brittle covering of the foot, thereby dividing the fibers and

frequently injuring the hoof, by causing large flakes to chip off its

protecting envelope.

The present practice of the forge chiefly consists in removing as much

horn as possible: as if the covering of the foot were not a natural

growth, sent for a healthful purpose; or it was the sprouting of

disease, which it became imperative should be excised. The shoe is

dragged off, and afterward the punch, the pliers, and the drawing-knife

are employed.

The author does not object to the legitimate use of the last-named

instrument; but to its abuse he dissents. As the shoe alone rests upon

the earth, of course the hoof lacks needful attrition. Therefore, were

no cutting resorted to, the horn would be prolonged, and the shoe

ultimately afford no protection to the foot, being carried forward

by the growth of the toe. It is not unusual to see the iron, which

originally was nailed to and encircled the hoof, borne onward by the

continued development of the horny secretion, in consequence of neglect

having allowed the shoe to remain on the foot for months.

[Illustration: THE SHOE, WHEN SUFFERED TO REMAIN UPON THE FOOT FOR TOO

LONG A PERIOD, IS CARRIED FORWARD BY THE GROWTH OF HORN, AND LEAVES THE

HEELS UNPROTECTED.]

It is well known to physiologists, that the constant removal of any

natural growth is calculated to result in one of three effects: it

may stimulate production, causing the willfully-excised material to

be secreted in unnatural abundance; or, on the other hand, it may

interfere with the powers of growth and occasion the material to be

withheld altogether; else the operation may cause the product to be

secreted in a diminished quantity. These conditions of hoof are those

which the English smith most often complains of, little suspecting

that he may innocently have aggravated the very evil over which he so

loudly laments. Weak, shelly feet are generally attributed to the colt

having been bred upon marshy soil. This accepted reason may answer its

purpose; but it does not explain why, upon the horse being taken into

work, or being carried a long distance from the place of its birth,

the deficiency should become more conspicuous, and the weakness grow

more annoying with each successive shoeing. Thick, stubborn hoofs

are too common to need much comment; but this effect is generally

attributed to the lateral nailing, which confines the expansion of

the quarters. Does not this excuse suggest the wisdom of carrying the

fastenings to the toe, where the greater thickness of the horn would

afford better hold to the nails, while at the same time the amount of

substance would forbid all idea of motion?

[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF A LOW AND OF A HIGH HEEL.]

In reply to the above suggestion, it may be answered that English

smiths like to spare the toe of the horse’s foot. All the strain of

draught is thrown upon this part, which must be dug forcibly into

the earth whenever the load is heavy or is difficult to draw. In

fast-trotting animals, the toe receives the impetus of the blow when

the foot descends upon the ground; therefore, it is urged, the smith

has found out by experience that no nail should weaken this portion of

the hoof. The answer appears to be final, but, on consideration, it

will be found of small value. Mr. Woodger, one of the best veterinary

surgeons in London, informs the writer he prefers to drive nails

through the toe of the horse’s foot.

In the first place, the different methods of fastening on the shoe

have to be properly considered. The author proposes a simple puncture

through all the substance, which, as the opening made is filled with

metal, can hardly produce weakness in the structure. The smith drives

the nail perpendicularly, not through the wall of the hoof, but into

its outward investing envelope, or into a material particularly harsh

and resentful of interference--thus separating the fibers of the horn,

destroying its integrity, and, of course, weakening its capability of

sustaining violence.

But, bearing in mind the foregoing reply, supposed to be urged in

defense of the established custom, let it now be asked, does the

English smith really respect the part, about the integrity of which he

appears to be so anxious? How does he act, when he fits upon the foot

of a horse a shoe having a clip at the toe? Does he, then, scrupulously

respect the most forward portion of the hoof? No! He actually employs

his drawing-knife to cut away the horn, thus forming a bed or seat

within which the clip can lie ensconced. Nor is this all; he turns up

the heels of the shoe afterward, thus forming a calkin, and actually

throwing the bearing of the hoof on that portion of the foot which he

has just denuded of its natural protection.

[Illustration: A SHOE WITH A CLIP AT THE TOE.]

[Illustration: THE INCISION WHICH PREPARES THE FOOT TO RECEIVE THE

CLIP.]

Against all objections embodying the cruelty of this mode of

proceeding, it may be responded that the horn is not endowed with

sensation; that it can be cut or burned without awakening the slightest

feeling; and, therefore, the introduction of the present remark is

entirely out of place. While listening to such talk, it might be

inferred those processes which a few people speak of as exciting no

feeling, were positively the sources of pleasure to the animal. But

if shoeing is to the horse so perfectly painless an operation, what

makes many of these quadrupeds dread its infliction, and refuse to

enter the forge? Is it excess of happiness that occasions several of

these creatures to resist the office of the smith, and provokes a

few actually to struggle so violently to escape his attentions as to

sacrifice their existences? Is it any form of ecstasy that renders most

animals fidgety while being shod, or is it the restlessness of perfect

bliss which induces nearly all to move about as though they were

anxious to escape?

The horse is naturally docile and obedient. To serve man is its

destiny, to obey its master is its delight. To please the human savage,

it deforms a beautiful frame before it is matured; and, under the

impulse of fear, submits to usage which destroys the value of its

life. In such a creature, which is denied the use of words, actions

must be reasonably construed, if we desire to interpret its emotions.

The acquiescence of ages has viewed contortion as the evidence of

agony; and universal opinion has regarded nervous movements as being

indicative of fear or of suffering.

The smith, to quiet timidity, may strike “the brute” with his heavy

hammer, or with his scarcely lighter pincers. But no severity can

deprive flesh of its inherent privilege to writhe, when tortured.

Fearful injuries have resulted from the smith’s impatience. Every blow,

however, does not lead to an inquiry; though any animal, having a most

retentive memory, may on the next occasion shy as it approaches the

door of the forge; or it may ever after, with that strange perversity

for which thoughtless proprietors are at a loss to account, prove

resistful at the approach of the shoeing smith. Nevertheless, though

the pantomime of terror should be a language universally comprehended,

few of those most accustomed to horses can see anything in the nervous

spasms of the animal but the exhibition of a vice which needs to be

resisted! Such people will imagine they deserve to be commended when,

by the exertion of their utmost force, they have overpowered the

mute timidity which was endeavoring to appeal to the sympathy of its

heartless superiors.

[Illustration: A HIGH CALKIN.]

Calkins to the shoes of the horse, as at present made, are positive

abominations. The shoe, in the first instance, is forged too long for

the foot, when, the extra length of iron being bent downward, a calkin

is established. Below, the author presents a sketch, made from memory,

of the highest calkin he ever remembers to have looked upon. It was

encountered in the country, soon after the breaking up of a severe

frost; and, probably, it was intended to counteract the wear of metal

which invariably accompanies a frozen condition of the highways. It

would, however, with a change of weather, fail in its intent; for the

principal wear is then endured by the toe of the shoe, and the heel

comparatively escapes friction. All such things operate according to

their height. They fling the entire bearing forward, where, without any

such aid, it must strongly press. Although contraction of the tendons

is mostly confined to cart-horses, (and this constrained position of

the foot must favor such an affection,) nevertheless the smith may

receive it as an unjust accusation when he is told that high calkins

are to blame for the spread of such a state of disease.

The author, probably, has said enough about the evils attendant on

the present system of shoeing; and, although the subject is far from

exhausted, he yields to the reader’s desire of learning what the writer

would substitute in the place of that which causes the numerous evils

he has denounced. The reformer’s office is but half performed when the

bad is exposed. The most difficult part remains to be discharged--that

of conceiving and of declaring the good which shall fill the void left

by the necessary destruction of the evil.

The author is conscious that, after having condemned so much, he has

placed himself under an obligation to adduce that which he believes to

be grounded on right principles. When doing this, the mighty question

of expense is entirely ignored. It is his office to make known the

remedy; he has no concern with the cost of its application. Gentlemen,

however, though exacting the utmost service from the horse, generally

begrudge the price of the iron which must be ground down while the

patient quadruped is laboring for its task-master’s benefit. With too

many proprietors the cheapest is the best form of shoe. The temptation

of saving a few pence frequently sways the judgment in favor of

some particular article. The welfare and the life of earth’s most

beautiful ornament is, by too many human beings, reduced to a money

consideration. So thoroughly is this fact appreciated that, when a new

shoe is submitted to the notice of the forge, its chances of success

are always judged by the charge for which it can be manufactured, apart

from the merits of the invention.

There is, however, a custom general in the forge which has been

discarded by other trades. The linen-draper tickets up the goods in

which he deals; and, be the customer rich or poor, the price is known

to both. The smith, however, will charge the tradesman three shillings

and sixpence, or four shillings, the set, for a horse’s shoes; while

the person of independent property, or in the upper sphere of life, he

makes pay five shillings for the self-same article. This rule can be

based on no principle of fair dealing, and it needs only to be exposed

to be immediately overthrown. Yet, even up to the present time, so

exploded and so antiquated a rule of trade prevails in the forge, where

the addition of an extra sixpence is unjustly made to turn the scale of

merit.

However, the author has here nothing to do with such considerations.

His duty is confined to freely stating his conscientious convictions,

and to acknowledging the reader as the appointed judge of the soundness

or unsoundness of his conclusions. Impressed with such a belief, the

following form of shoe is submitted to the public. It is, by the

writer, designated “a slipper shoe;” and the appearance of such a

protection, when fixed upon the foot of a heavy horse, is presented

below.

The principal peculiarity in this shoe is the long strip of metal

which rises above the upper surface and conceals about three-quarters

of an inch of the toe. This is not an enlarged kind of clip, but a

hollow receptacle, which projects above the shoe and covers part of the

hoof. The use will be best understood when stated that it confers the

name--the slipper shoe. The toe is sheltered within the shallow cavity,

and its purpose is to afford the stay which the clip imperfectly

provides at the expense of the horn’s destruction. When the fore

portion of the foot is being dug into the earth, this provision, while

it allows the hoof to be employed in its integrity, will prevent all

the stress being transferred to the nails, and thus hinder the clinches

being loosened.

[Illustration: THE FOOT OF A HEAVY ANIMAL, WITH THE SLIPPER SHOE FIXED

ON IT.]

This shoe has no web. It consists of a piece of iron the breadth

of which is merely sufficient to afford a secure lodgment for the

crust. The thing possesses true calkins, but their existence does not

interfere with the level of the upper surface on which the foot rests.

The shoe is forged of one thickness from toe to heel; and a portion of

metal under each quarter being removed, leaves the calkin, which thus

only serves to maintain the evenness of the bearing. A slipper shoe,

adapted for a lighter kind of animal than was supposed in the above

illustration, and not fixed on the foot, is presented on the next page.

It may possibly be urged that in thus forming the calkin, the author

has weakened the strength of the quarters. Nature has, however, set

the example, by weakening the horn at the quarters; nevertheless, by so

doing she has not destroyed the strength of the hoof. The quarters of

an old shoe, when removed after six weeks’ hard wear, invariably are

not sensibly diminished in substance, showing that the lessened amount

of horn communicates small friction to the metal. Besides, the toe is

supported upon massive iron, while the heels are upheld by blocks of

the same metal. A law of mechanics instructs us that if the extremities

of any powerful substance are adequately sustained, the body which

bridges over the space may be without support. The heels being raised

to an equal height with the toe, the metal left at the quarters, as

it is removed from attrition, is imagined to be fully equal to the

necessities of its position.

[Illustration: A HEAVY SHOE.

A LIGHT SHOE.--SHOWING THE MANNER IN WHICH CALKINS MAY BE FORMED,

WITHOUT ANY INCREASE OF WEIGHT.

The diagram exhibits the Slipper Shoe, as suited for different breeds

of animals; also shows the sameness in both kinds of manufacture.]

Most existing shoes are =fullered=, or have a hollow space, narrow

but long, near to the outer margin. Into this empty void or groove

the heads of the nails are received; but as the substance in front

is ground down by wear, of course the duration of the shoe must be

shortened in proportion to the depth of the fullering. That the

reader may fully comprehend the signification of a fullered shoe, on

the following page is a copy, made from Mr. Goodwin’s excellent work

on Shoeing, which the author can recommend as the fullest, the most

explicit, and altogether the best book on this topic which was ever

written in the English language.

By inspecting the next illustration, which represents the ground

surface, the reader will perceive an indented void near to the outer

margin. Behind this indentation or fullered cavity the iron gradually

slopes away, so that the substance which is exposed to wear, and on

which the horse must travel, consists of the narrow strip that extends

round the outward edge of the shoe.

[Illustration: A SHOE, WITH THE NAILS COUNTERSUNK.

(Ground surface.)]

[Illustration: A FULLERED SHOE.

(Ground surface.)]

The author’s proposed shoe contemplates iron of an equal thickness at

every point which is usually exposed to wear. The nails are driven into

holes made to fit close around the heads of those fastenings, so that

the shoe being fixed, no loss of substance is to be detected; for the

nail heads fill the spaces which were countersunk for their admission.

[Illustration: DIAGRAMS, SHOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FULLERING AND

COUNTERSINKING, FOR RECEIVING THE NAIL HEAD OF A HORSE’S SHOE.

Fullering, or a free indentation round the shoe. This space is

indicated by the dark portion of the diagram, and within which

the heads of the nails repose.

Countersinking, or only removing so much metal as may be filled up

by the heads of the nails which are to retain the shoe upon the

horse’s foot.

]

The nails pierce the toe of the proposed new shoe. This part is

selected, because this portion of hoof is covered with the thicker

horn; therefore is indicated as the region where all stress should

bear. The author is aware that, among smiths, there is a strong

objection to driving nails in the center of the wall. Yet it seems

to the writer that a more violent outrage is inflicted by actually

removing a portion of its substance, so as to make an abiding-place

for a clip, than by piercing obliquely the strongest part of the hoof,

subsequent to the toe having grown below the true foot.

The thickness of wall there offers several advantages, when considering

the retention of nails. The solidity of the secretion is a proof that

this portion of the hoof is not endowed with motion. Consequently, when

fastening a piece of iron to it, we are not fearful of interfering

with the exercise of a healthful function. Such would be the case if

the nails were to fix the quarters, where the joint thinness, moisture,

and elasticity of the horn afford the best evidence nature meant should

reside expansion and contraction.

When the contents of the foot are compressed by the superimposed

weight of the animal, or when the hoof is resting upon the ground, the

quarters yield to the downward pressure, and they accordingly expand.

When the burden is removed by the hoof being raised, the quarters again

fly back to their original situations. The sides, therefore, being in

constant motion, are entirely unsuited for the purposes to which the

smith compels them. No wonder the clinches are loosened, or the shoes

come off, when the nails are driven into parts hardly ever at rest;

this action is important to the circulation, for the contraction still

allows the arterial blood free ingress, while the expansion permits the

full return of the venous current.

Therefore, because the thickness of horn denies the possibility of

movement; because the amount of inorganic secretion likewise presents

a reasonable hope of not injuring other and more delicate structures;

and because the toe affords those numerous properties which, for

the retention of the fastenings are rendered imperative, the nails,

in opposition to the usage of ages and the experience of thousands,

are fixed within the anterior of the hoof--seven or five being there

employed to fix the shoe.

There is another quality appertaining to the proposed shoe which may be

briefly touched upon. The thing is equally applicable to the field or

to the road. For hunting purposes, it is superior to any modern shoe.

It possesses no unnecessary surface, being absolutely without web, and

is lighter for the absence of so useless a provision. It is also fixed

more firmly upon the foot, being the better able to withstand the drag,

always present, when riding in winter over stiff clays. Moreover, it

does not fetter the quarters of the hoof or necessitate vast removal of

the sole; consequently it leaves the pliable horn to aid the spring,

thereby allowing the horse the full exercise of its natural power.

This reference to one kind of sport, naturally calls to mind another

form of amusement in which the horse is a principal performer.

Thorough-breds, before they start for the race, are shod in very light,

but in equally thin shoes, of which the appended example may convey

some idea. Now, thinness and lightness, where metal is concerned, are

attainable only by the sacrifice of strength. The sad accidents which

have occurred through using the present racing plates, and by these

being broken, bent, or twisted, during the violence of the contention,

ought to provoke their abolition.

[Illustration: AN OLD AND A MODERN RACING PLATE.]

Such accidents are, however, fortunately more rare than the substance

of the shoe might lead most readers to suppose. Nevertheless, a

greater injury is consummated by affixing a fetter, which prevents the

elasticity of the quarters aiding the exertions of the animal, while,

from its dimension, it can afford but little protection to the foot.

How much the speed of the racer must be dependent upon that elasticity

with which the quarters are endowed, may be judged of by any person

who has ever visited a race-course and beheld the horses trot previous

to the start. Who can have failed to notice the play of fetlock by

which “the blood action” is characterized? Now, nature never forms one

part an exception to the whole. She delights in harmony; consequently

the spring which resides in the fetlock is positive evidence of the

elasticity which belongs to the unfettered foot. But the bounding

property, which the frog, sole, and quarters would naturally provide,

the trainer counteracts, in order to impose a dangerous article, which

is not a horse shoe, nor even a respectable substitute for one.

[Illustration:

A TIP OR HALF SHOE NAILED ONLY TO THE TOE, AND LEAVING BOTH THE

QUARTERS FREE.

]

It is so formed, however, as to exercise the worst functions of the

regular shoe. It is a fetter upon the foot, and firmly impales the

quarters, thereby seriously crippling the animal and impeding the

natural power. If any part of a thorough-bred’s foot required metallic

protection, it could only be the toe; for this part alone is employed

during the horse’s quickest pace. The other portions of the hoof touch

the ground, when aiding the spring; but these are never used with that

amount of energy which necessitates anything approaching artificial

defense. Now, the plate and its nails check expansion; these also

oppose that force of rebound residing in the hoof and in its various

structures. The best horse must feel the bondage most. The spring or

rebound is to it of most value. But that function is destroyed. Many a

fine animal has, doubtless, been condemned for having “no go in him,”

which, could it have exerted all its natural power, would have been

declared winner of every race for which it was ever entered.

The late William Percivall, the respected author of Hippo-pathology,

many years ago informed the author that he had long ridden a young

horse about town with no greater protection to its forefeet than tips

could afford. He showed the hoofs of the animal to the writer, and

more open or better examples of the healthy horse’s feet need not be

desired. Why could not tips be employed by racers, instead of the

present ridiculous pretense at a shoe? If any greater protection is

imperative, or is thought to be needed, the shoe proposed by the author

would give all security, while it left the pedal structures free to

exercise their important uses. There can be no doubt as to the safety

of tips; in which, if Mr. Percivall could for years take his quadruped

through the streets of London, another animal might, surely, scamper

over the well-kept turf of a race-course, where the heels merely touch

the earth during the intervals of leaps, and then only for an instant.

Were tips more generally employed, this form of shoe would be more

highly valued. They are, however, now thought only to be of service

when the animal is, “for a season,” thrown up; but there can be no

reason why the racer--trained, exercised, and worked always on choice

turf--should ever be crippled by any more regular form of shoe.

Most horsemen, however, like the warriors of old, place their great

dependence on the accumulation of iron. The nearest approach they ever

make toward a tip, and then only when guarded by a veterinary surgeon’s

advice, is a three-quarter shoe. The tip is a protection to be worn

only during the run at grass, and to be discarded so soon as the stable

is entered. Is not the racer always at grass, since the rail or the

van generally carries it over the roads? How often do the feet of the

thorough-bred fail, though there must be further cause than the work

they have undergone? But no one is silly enough to suspect the shoeing

can be at fault!

[Illustration:

A THREE-QUARTER SHOE, WHICH ONLY LEAVES ONE-QUARTER UNFETTERED.

]

The three-quarter shoe is but an enlarged kind of tip. Most horsemen

appreciate the unilateral nailing, which was revived some years ago

by that excellent veterinary surgeon, Mr. Turner, of Regent Street.

They can understand the advantages of leaving one-quarter without

nails so long as the unfettered part be covered by a regular shoe.

They comprehend that by omitting the nails on one side of the hoof,

that side is left free to exercise its natural property of expansion.

Therefore they perceive that the unilateral mode of shoeing is a

partial remedy for contraction.

Though always worked on grass, and ever lightly shod, no animal is

so troubled with mule hoofs as is the racer; yet no quadruped is so

entirely under the inspection of man. The mode of shoeing must be at

fault. That cannot be right the results from which are purely evil. The

consequences experienced from the custom of fettering that portion of

the foot on which the pleasure of motion and the extent of the rebound

both depend, argue strongly in favor of tips, not only as training,

but more especially as running shoes. Men with fleshy feet, having no

protection from leather, fearlessly tread the race-course; yet the

owners of blood stock seem afraid of trusting their animals to perform

an act not equally bold--although nature sends the horse into the world

with ready-made and stout-made shoes. There can be no just reason why

the steed which never quits the turf need be hampered even with a

unilateral shoe, were the horn only carefully, and not ruthlessly, cut

away.

[Illustration: A SEATED AND A UNILATERAL SHOE.]

A seated shoe implies a regular shoe, which has only so much upper

surface left as will admit of the crust resting upon it. The remainder

of the web slants away, till the posterior or inner margin becomes a

comparatively fine edge. Such a make of shoe may lessen the weight, but

it can afford no protection; while it offers a snug lodging for stones

or grit, and presents an extended surface for the huntsman’s dreaded

heavy clay to act upon. Yet, for the sake of its prettiness, the seated

shoe is all but universally adopted. No other form is so largely

patronized by what should be the informed class of society.

Mr. Bracy Clark once brought forward a jointed shoe, which was intended

to admit of expansion; and was offered to the public as a radical cure

for all the evils to which the foot of the horse was liable. The joint

was placed at the toe, the shoe being forged in two halves, which were

united by means of a rivet. The thing was wrong in principle. The toe,

which nature intended should be fixed, was obliged to move, before the

heels could expand; then, parts could not yield in different degrees,

but all must move at once, according to the motion of the iron. It was

soon discovered to be terribly injurious, when brought into use. The

battering speedily fixed the central rivet, and afterward wore away

the joint, leaving the two halves disunited. A thing which turns out

defective, both in principle and in practice, merits that neglect into

which the jointed shoe has now fallen.

[Illustration: MR. BRACY CLARK’S JOINTED SHOE.]

Another mechanical ameliorator was termed the screw shoe. This had

two rivets--one on either side of the toe, operating on two movable

quarter pieces. The sides, therefore, were capable of all motion, and,

being nailed to the quarters, were, by turning the screw, to be forced

outward. The screw was situated under the frog, and was retained in

its position by a stout bar of iron connected with the toe piece.

Man, however, cannot treat any portion of an organic frame as it were

an inorganic substance. He may tear flesh, but he cannot stretch or

strain living tissues according to his pleasure. Moreover, all outward

secretions are regulated by the parts which they cover and inclose.

Thus, supposing a lad born with a diminutive head, the cranium cannot

be enlarged by any degree of force; but educate the boy, exercise the

intellect of the youth, and, with the greater development of the brain,

the bones of the head will sensibly expand. So it must be with the

heels of the horse’s feet. These parts may become rigid and wired in

by the fixing power exercised by the nails of the shoe. But remove the

nails, allow the hoof that motion which is needful to its health, and

its internal structures may recover their lost functions; a gradual

restoration to the normal shape may be the consequence of strength

regained by the internal organs.

[Illustration: A SCREW SHOE.]

The veterinary mind was, however, slow to recognize so plain a rule.

Like all nature’s laws, the truth necessitated not that show of

mastery in which the ignorant especially delight. The famous screw shoe

is everywhere admitted to have been a decided failure; nevertheless,

the pride of poor humanity could not relinquish the hope of compelling

life, through the power, to direct mechanical force. Screws and rivets

had proved alike hurtful, but there still remained other artifices,

which were as yet untried. The frog-pressure shoe was one of these,

which ultimately lamed many horses, without having benefited a single

one. The wedge-heeled shoe is, however, occasionally encountered, even

at the present day. It consists of a shoe, imperfectly seated upon its

upper surface, and which has the heels much thicker or higher than the

toe. The iron, at the inside heel, is beaten into an angular form,

the apex of the angle looking toward the foot. The intention is, that

the heel, resting upon a slanting surface, should slide downward and

outward, thus being forced gradually to expand. The shoe may be said,

up to a particular point, to answer the inventor’s expectations. The

hoof certainly does slide downward and outward; only, when this is

accomplished, the wall has been torn from its attachments, while the

apex of the wedge, coming into contact with the soft sole, has actually

forced its way through the horn covering the last-named part, thereby

lamentably laming the poor horse. Could the teaching of principle have

been interpreted, so sad a result might have been understood without

positively experimenting with breathing life.

[Illustration: A WEDGE-HEELED SHOE.]

But pride has no brains, and a very limited degree of feeling. A

modification of the above shoe is still to be met in the London shops.

The nail holes are principally at the toe, one only being inserted

at the most forward part of each quarter. The author’s proposed plan

of fastening the shoe is, therefore, no positive novelty; since

the smith, before now, has impaled the toe of the foot. A return

to perfect freedom, however, could alone cure the evils caused by

unnatural restraint. The wedge heel pointed the toe toward the earth;

injured the bars and the sole; often causing large portions of the

coffin-bone to exfoliate. Seeing the plan did not answer, the next

inventor lowered the heels and raised the forward part, this thing

being named a “thin-heeled shoe.” However, one extreme could not heal

the wounds provoked by another; and the position of the hoof, which

the pavement of the stalls enforces while the horse is in the stable,

the thin-heeled shoe perpetuated whenever the animal was taken abroad.

Ceaseless discomfort can advantage no form of existence.

[Illustration: A THIN-HEELED SHOE.]

The last shoe, moreover, besides being thin at the heels, also

displayed a mild desire to retain the feature of the wedge. This was

done without the inventor suspecting that, when he fixed the quarters

of the hoof at a high altitude, and invited the heels to slide down an

inclined plane, he was only laying a trap for loosening the clinches;

since, the quarters and the heels being continuous, one cannot move

without the other being displaced.

All men having, theoretically, insisted on the necessity of permitted

freedom of motion to the quarters, in order to secure the health of the

foot, the next novelty was a proposition to confine those parts, by

establishing a large clip at either side of the shoe. The clips were

forged; but the thin heels were also retained. The highest portion

being at the toe, of course the foot, obeying the laws of gravity, had

an inclination to drag toward the lower level--thus the thin heels had

a tendency to draw the hoof away from the clips, one part counteracting

the other. Then, the clip shoe has a piece of steel inserted at the

toe; but could an everlasting horse shoe be produced, it would bring

but small gain to the proprietor; since the natural growth of the horn

necessitates that the metal should be removed, that new nails should

be inserted, and that the foot should be pared out every third week.

However, the steel toe and the thin heels were incompatible with each

other; since the thin heels took the bearing from that part which the

steel presupposes to be alone liable to attrition.

[Illustration: A CLIP SHOE.]

It would, however, be vain to review all the shoes which have come

before the public. A certain rim of iron has been pinched up, flattened

out, squeezed in, twisted about, has been lengthened and has been

shortened, subjected to every species of treatment but the right; and

each trivial alteration has been patented to the public as a final and

a wonderful improvement. After all the many changes, at the present

time a modification of the shoe originally introduced by Clark, of

Edinburgh, is in general use, or, if such an assertion requires any

qualification, the hospital shoes, or shoes suited for particular forms

of disease, are the principal exceptions.

The generality of grooms will undertake the relief of those injuries

occasioned during motion, or which are produced by one leg being hit by

the opposite foot.

Of cutting there are two descriptions. One is spoken of as “brushing,”

and this kind occurs near to the pastern joint. The other is called

“speedy cut,” and it takes place immediately below the knee. Both are

equally annoying; but the last is the most dangerous. “Speedy cut”

will destroy the rider’s security in his horse; for a blow on the seat

of injury may bring the animal suddenly to earth. Both affections are

likely to occasion exostosis; for the repeated injury may so irritate

the bone as shall cause it to enlarge or tumefy. Thus, the renewal of

the accident produces a result which must increase the probability of

its recurrence.

Almost all weakly, long-legged, and narrow-chested horses cut.

Creatures with cow hocks are said to be exposed to this calamity. Many

young horses strike in going; but they lose the habit as age matures

the strength. Nearly all animals, when exhausted, will “brush,” and

often very severely. Lately, a ring of India-rubber has been employed

as a protection against this annoyance; but it is a mere fantasy,

and one not at all calculated to realize any practical expectation.

Confirmed disappointment engenders a feeling allied to desperation;

but when nostrums fail, advice should then be sought from more lofty

counselors.

The speedy cut has already been alluded to in the Illustrated Horse

Doctor; but in that volume no mention was made of what is ordinarily

implied by “brushing,” which is confined principally to the hind

extremities. It is astonishing how great may be the annoyance which

a matter apparently so trivial will occasion; and it is a legitimate

source of surprise how deep the wound can be, or how lasting the

blemish, produced by slight blows, frequently becomes. The groom may

exhaust his stock of remedies, and the master may expend some money and

much patience, watching for a cure which is never effected.

Let the defeated proprietor then apply to some practical veterinary

surgeon, who will inform him of the real cause of the injury which

has already been intimated. Some horses will only cut during the

latter portion of a long journey, or when thoroughly exhausted. Other

quadrupeds are afflicted with a chronic description of weakness, and

such animals may cut with the first step. These creatures require less

work or entire rest, with a course of tonics, both in food and medicine.

However, make and shape certainly have some control over this

affection. The horse which exhibits a wide chest, and stands with the

feet not too close together, very rarely speedy-cuts. The animal which

possesses well-made haunches with prominent hips and swelling thighs,

that appear full, round, and fleshy, especially when such a creature

places the fetlocks under the hocks, must be driven very far and pushed

very hard before the pace shall become injurious.

[Illustration: THE KIND OF HORSE NOT LIKELY TO CUT.]

Several repeated remedies have been sold for the relief of this

defect. Saddlers keep in stock pieces of leather, or small flaps

with straps appended, which last, being buckled round the leg, hang

pendulous, covering the wound. Such applications, however, rarely are

satisfactory. The horse, during the motion of the feet, repeatedly

kicks the leather, and the frequent blows generally remove it from its

original situation; thus, long before the journey has ended, the remedy

hangs over some sound part of the leg, and the sore is bleeding from

renewed injury.

[Illustration: REMEDIES FOR CUTTING.]

A better plan is to procure a piece of cloth which matches the color

of the animal, and to fold this round the leg, ultimately tying it at

the top and the bottom. Such a contrivance cannot be displaced, and

is less likely to attract attention than the leathern flap recently

alluded to. However, it must be tightly wrapped round the shin or it

will bag and appear unsightly, as it is represented in the previous

illustration. Still, such a resort affords but a partial protection,

cloth being unable to stay the entire consequences of a blow; nor can

it be regarded as exercising a curative influence.

That which appears better is a leathern boot, of the color of the skin,

or made of prepared horse skin, having the hair on, and laced upon

the member. Over the seat of injury a concave piece of stout leather

is let into the covering, and the hollow thus formed, which acts as

a protection, can also receive a portion of lint saturated in the

lotion, prepared by adding one grain of chloride of zinc to an ounce of

water. Thus, while the sore is spared a renewal of the cause, curative

treatment is not stayed.

[Illustration: A LEATHERN BOOT.]

The chloride of zinc lotion is the only remedy which an ordinary case

of cutting would require; but aggravated instances of this annoyance

will also be benefited by rest and a course of restoratives to amend

the constitutional debility. Other matters consist in a warm lodging,

an ample bed, prepared food, walking exercise, a loose box, and, above

all things, no work. Should the animal be changing its coat, which

is generally a period of weakness, throw it up till the operation is

completed; give extra nourishment and one ounce of liquor arsenicalis,

each day, to assist nature. Never turn out to grass; for numerous

are the examples of flagging quadrupeds which, after the supposed

invigoration of a month’s “run,” have been taken up in a condition

which disabled them for labor ever afterward.

Such an animal should enjoy the very best of softened food--beans in

excess--and should be retained at the homestead. It should be handled,

not ridden, to exercise, of which it can hardly have too much, provided

the motion does not excite perspiration or cause evident fatigue,

neither of which states is desirable. Should the horse sweat in the

stable, remove all clothing, open the door, and pour over the body

several pails of the coldest water--having a helper ready to dry the

saturated coat with all speed; then, putting on a bridle, send the

animal out for one hour’s brisk walking exercise. Order the man who

holds the rein to walk at the rate of four miles an hour. An active

quadruped can travel much faster, so there can be no excuse, beyond the

indulgence of his individual laziness, for the servant creeping along,

while the animal hangs the head as though it had some intention of

laying down.

[Illustration: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG WAY OF WALKING A GENTLEMAN’S

HORSE.]

Much injury is done every year by the indolent manner in which idle

lads “walk horses.” The urchins who infest the streets of London

display nimbleness while they run by the side of an equestrian,

shouting out occasionally, “Hold your honor’s horse?” No sooner,

however, have they received orders to walk the quadruped about, than

all their activity departs; they creep along at a pace which only

just renders it impossible to charge them with standing positively

stationary. The horse may be warm, and the master may desire to

prevent the body from chilling while he is detained by business. A

ready affirmative testifies that the command to move briskly has been

comprehended; but who ever beheld one of these youthful idlers, when

in possession of a job, stirring even at the pace of a lady’s ordinary

walk?

However, to return to the subject which at present is more especially

under the reader’s consideration. _Cutting_ is often combined with

clicking or forging, for both words signify the same act, implying the

noise made by striking the toe or quarter of the hind shoe against the

metal nailed to the forefoot. This sound is not generally considered

pleasant by those who hear it; because, besides being of a monotonous

character, it announces something to be the matter--either that the

horse is not exactly in proper working condition, or that the journey

has been a trifle too long for the strength of the animal, while the

repeated blows endanger the retention of a fore shoe.

[Illustration:

SHOE, DESIGNED WITH THE INTENTION OF ERADICATING CUTTING, AND OF

RENDERING CLICKING AN IMPOSSIBILITY.

]

The smith generally is consulted to cure this defect. He, however, who

regards the cause, will perceive that the eradication of the evil more

concerns the stable than the forge. The man of the anvil, nevertheless,

will put on a novel kind of shoe which, with all the confidence of

ignorance, he shall assert must stay the annoyance. The remedy totally

fails, and the horse is led to another forge. The new blacksmith picks

up the foot, and, of course, is cunning enough to profit by what he

there perceives. A different shoe is tried and pronounced an absolute

remedy. Still, this disappoints; the quadruped seeks some other

shoemaker. The next bit of iron leads to no new result. The clicking

and the cutting only get worse during these numerous trials; till the

proprietor becomes alarmed, and the horse is thrown up to undergo

regular curative treatment.

The rest thus obtained often effects that which no change of shoe could

accomplish. The smiths, however, are only to be blamed for pretending

to perform impossibilities. The best veterinary surgeons in the kingdom

having no better appliances, could have labored to no better result;

the fact being that the kind of shoe which shall answer in all such

cases, does not and cannot exist. That article has the best chance

which is adopted when the owner deems it necessary to lighten the work

of his exhausted servant. Thus, it is a matter of uncertainty which

shoe will succeed. The first smith may, or perhaps the last will, prove

the very clever tradesman in his employers’ estimation.

The next engraving is a type of the shoe commonly employed for the

alleviation of this unpleasantness. The number of altered shapes and

adapted peculiarities is infinite; but one pervading model is readily

detected through all such modifications. There are, however, several

shoes claimed as inventions by different smiths, and each is warranted

to cure the most aggravated case of cutting or of clicking on the first

application. The author has known many of these to fail; while the

ordinary shoe often answers admirably, so the horse be “up” to his

work, and not pushed too far or too hard.

The fact being, that flesh and blood, if overtasked, will flag, and no

mechanical contrivance can anticipate the natural consequences of such

exhaustion. Clicking and cutting are not local ailments; therefore,

though they may be mitigated, they cannot be eradicated by any local

application. They doubtless are both produced by the irregular movement

of the feet; but the motion of the extremities is regulated by the

condition of the body. If the reader is ever on a journey, and the

horse he is guiding chances to click, the bearing-rein should be let

down--if the driver sit behind harness disgraced by such an instrument

of folly. Should that not succeed, accept the warning: pull up at the

next tavern, and have the quadruped taken from the shafts, rubbed down

and rested.

[Illustration: SHOE, MEANT TO PREVENT CLICKING.]

After a couple of hours spent by the traveler in the coffee-room, the

journey may be resumed, though, of course, a longer stay will rather

benefit than injure the steed; yet, in either case, the subsequent

pace should be a little slackened; and if, on reaching home, the work

is slightly lightened, the noise may never after startle the “ear of

propriety.”

These remedies should always anticipate the setting in of winter;

because wet roads necessitate heavier shoes, by which a severer blow

can be inflicted. Nevertheless, the majority of horse owners are

extremely careless about the necessities of the seasons. The winters,

in this climate, are more generally characterized by their severity

than remarkable for their mildness; yet the frost appears always to

take horse proprietors by surprise. Gentlemen, to be sure, during

this season allow their dumb servants to remain within the stable;

but quadrupeds which have to work for their own and their masters’

sustenance, creatures which have to labor long and to labor hard,

slaves which toil before the sun has risen and never cease till

darkness has long set in, are never prepared for the season which in

England seems a certainty.

A horse shoe is, however, not a perishable commodity, nor does its

store necessitate any sacrifice. Supposing it were forged in the

summer, and because of death or change, it should not suit in the

winter, the smith, at such a period, would gladly accept its return.

Many forges are comparatively idle during the warmer months, and any

amount of winter shoes would be most thankfully manufactured. Then no

one will employ the men; but scarcely does a severe frost or the snow

set in, than people throng into the forge, all clamorous to have their

horses’ shoes suited to the weather. They crowd the building; they

even stop the roadway. The inside is full of men and horses--horses

and men cluster deep about the entrance. The smiths have to work

fast, and often hang over the fires for three nights and three days,

without looking on a bed. Beer is abundant; but nature cannot labor

continuously on any amount of stimulant, and the men ultimately sink,

exhausted, to sleep soundly on a heap of old rusty horse shoes, while

many voices are shouting and many anvils are ringing around them.

[Illustration: THE BLACKSMITH’S FORGE AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF A HARD

FROST.]

Such scenes might be prevented and the work much better done, would

owners lay in a stock of shoes, properly frosted, against the coming

winter. The labor executed during the leisure portion of the year

would not be hastily performed by overtaxed workmen; the only extra

charge such a provision would necessitate is the interest on the

slight cost of the articles supplied: though very often even such an

increase of expense would be avoided, since it is by no means uncommon

for the smith’s account to remain longer than six months before it is

liquidated; while the confusion, loss of time, and those accidents

which often occur, would be banished.

Frosting or roughing, as it is termed, is generally performed in

a coarse and careless manner, because of that excessive press of

business amid which it is executed. In the first place, the shoe

is hurriedly torn from the hoof, without the nails being properly

unclinched, or any trouble being taken about the process. Should the

proprietor expostulate, he only elicits an uncivil reply; for the

journeyman is vexed with boisterous solicitations from a crowd of

impatient customers, and irritable from inordinate fatigue. The shoe

is then heated; after which the free extremities are turned downward

with the hammer, and the ends are hastily beaten into a rude, sharp

edge. In some particular cases, the toe is likewise favored by having

a clip forged; but occasionally the toe is turned downward, forming a

third and a front calkin. The article is thus rendered too short for

the foot, and, with all shape destroyed, is nailed on to the hoof from

which it was recently removed; and the animal is led from the forge

wearing shoes supposed to be properly “frosted.”

[Illustration: THE SHOE OF THE HORSE AS FREQUENTLY FROSTED.]

The rudeness of the above process has long been appreciated by the more

reflective portion of the public. To rectify it, various innovations

have been proposed. The meditated improvements, however, have all sank

into disuse, because of the attendant expense or of the necessitated

exertion. A common man thinks it no trouble to remain through the night

in the blacksmith’s forge, waiting for his turn, at an expensive, a

ruinous, and an inefficient operation,--because other people do the

same. But when his turn arrives, perhaps a new set of shoes is spoiled;

for the ordinary “roughing” is generally of no service after the third

day, the sharp calkins being by that time ground blunt.

The huge weight of the animal grinds the edges off the iron, especially

upon London stones, so that in three days they are no better than

ordinary calkins, and cease to enable the quadruped to progress on ice.

The constant removal and renewal of the shoe--the horn each time having

to be repierced by fresh nails--seriously injures the hoof, so that

frequently animals are forced to remain idle because there remains no

more horn on which to fix a fastening. Those horses which escape such

a fate, nevertheless carry the scars which commemorate the period of

frost for months afterward; for there is no horseman, who has the most

trivial experience in such matters, but will bitterly complain of the

damage done to the quadruped’s feet, when it is forced to work through

the winter season.

Some person, many years ago, proposed to use nails with large steel

sharp-pointed heads, during the prevalence of frost. This plan was

tried, and signally failed. The constant renewal of the nails was

found ruinous to the hoof; for the strongest of the projecting heads

was unable to resist the grinding action of a horse’s foot longer

than twenty-four hours. Then, many of the heads broke off while being

driven, and not a few were fixed in a damaged condition, owing to the

blows received from the heavy hammer of the smith.

[Illustration:

A SHOE, INTENDED TO ENABLE A HORSE TO WORK IN FROST, WHICH IS FIXED

ON TO THE FOOT WITH SHARP HEADED AND PROJECTING NAILS.

]

[Illustration:

A SHOE, WITH POINTS, WHICH SCREW ON AND OFF, DESIGNED TO FIT A

HORSE FOR WORK DURING FROSTY WEATHER.

]

Mr. White, however, proposed a plan concerning the utility of which

Mr. Lupton, a living and a most intelligent writer, bears favorable

evidence. Large holes, containing the thread of a female screw, are

made through the heels of the winter shoes, and several steel points,

manufactured with a male screw, adapted to the dimensions of the holes

just mentioned. Whenever frost coats the roads with ice, all that is

requisite a boy might perform. The hole in the shoe has to be cleared

out, and afterward, with an instrument known as “a spanner,” one of

the points, before alluded to, is screwed into the opening. When these

points are worn down, they are easily renewed; thus the terrors of the

frost are overcome without exposing the horse for hours to the chilly

air, or yourself submitting to the incivilities of the forge.

On the above subject, the following is extracted from the excellent

weekly newspaper _The Field_, and is here quoted because of the

information it affords, and because of the lucid manner in which it

explains the measures necessary to be pursued.

“About this time last season we inserted in _The Field_ an account of

the plan of frosting horse shoes, recommended more than fifty years

ago by Mr. White, veterinary surgeon, of Exeter. Since then, nearly

one thousand sets of the sharp cogs used for this purpose have been

sold by the engineer to whom we intrusted the task of making them; and

the plan appears to give unqualified satisfaction. At the suggestion

of several correspondents who have not seen our former article, we

are induced to repeat the notice, with the addition of an engraving

representing the tools necessary; these being a drill of the required

size, which every smith possesses, and with which a hole is drilled in

the heel of each shoe, and, if needed, in the toe also. These holes

are then converted into female screws by means of two taps, (figs.

1 and 2,) one being slightly smaller than the other, so as to make

a perfect female screw by using first the smaller one and then the

larger. Besides these, a spanner (fig. 3) is required to fix on the cog

firmly; and the cogs themselves (fig. 4) should be made by a competent

smith. These may all be obtained of S. Morris, 50 Rathbone Place,

Oxford Street, London, the price of the tools being six shillings, and

of the cogs, three shillings per dozen. With this outlay, any shoeing

smith can fit a set of shoes by drilling the heels, (and the toes, if

the roads are very slippery, but for ordinary work the cogs in the

heels are quite sufficient,) tapping them with the taps furnished to

him, after which they are nailed on; and the horse so shod can in five

minutes be roughed by his groom, by screwing a cog in each hole, with

the aid of the spanner. It often happens that the roads become frozen

after a horse leaves home; but if the groom has the spanner and cogs

in his pocket, he is independent of the smith, and neither the delay

caused by ‘roughing,’ nor the danger from its omission, is incurred.

A specimen shoe, properly fitted, may be seen at the office of _The

Field_.”--_December 20, 1861._

[Illustration:

FIG. 4

FIG. 1

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

]

The plan is excellent, but it requires a little forethought and a

slight expenditure of ready cash. The tools for the tapping, or making

the female screw holes, and for the points, Mr. Lupton obtains from

Birmingham; the former at a cost of five shillings--the last for one

penny or three half pence each. Tapping a set of shoes is by the smith

charged fourpence; and for so small an outlay the gentleman just named

escapes the unpleasantness and the annoyance which are inseparable from

the old method of “roughing” horses during frosty weather.

[Illustration: A FOOT PROPERLY SHOD, AND A FOOT WHICH HAS BEEN CRUELLY

RASPED, TO MAKE THE HOOF SUIT A SHOE THAT WAS TOO SMALL FOR IT.]

The author believes he has now touched upon all the _necessary_ heads

connected with the subject he is at present considering; still this

article cannot be closed without apprising the reader of a practice

not unusual in some forges, but never indulged in by the respectable

tradesman. This is, paring and rasping the horse’s foot till it be

small enough to fit the shoe, rather than kindle a fire and forge a new

set which shall suit the feet of the animal. It may to some readers

seem like a jest, to write seriously about the horse’s shoes being too

tight; but it is, indeed, no joke to the quadruped which has to move in

such articles. The walk is strange, as though the poor creature were

trying to progress, but could obtain no bearing for its tread. The legs

are all abroad, and the hoofs no sooner touch the ground than they

are snatched up again. The head is carried high, and the countenance

denotes suffering. It is months before the horn is restored to its

normal condition. The animal must, during this period, remain idle in

the stable; and, that the reader may be enabled to recognize the foot,

under such circumstances, the last illustration was introduced.

It is trusted that whoever may possess an animal which is thus treated,

will, in the first instance, secure the evidence as to fact from three

or four of the principal veterinary surgeons; then enforce, with its

utmost rigor, the law against the individual who has knowingly been

guilty of this most heartless attempt at a positive fraud.

The horse is so entirely given into the hands of man, and is so

submissive to his treatment, that the active supervision of its

master is doubly necessary for its protection. While the present

mode of nailing is continued, every proprietor willfully exposes his

quadruped to danger who sends the creature to be shod. Any journeyman

may, therefore, be pardoned if, occasionally, the foot be pricked; but

the pains and the labor required to adjust a hoof to a shoe of small

dimensions are absolute proof of evil design, and are irrefutable

testimony which should forbid the remotest thought of leniency toward

the offender.