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Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2009 with funding from

Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/horseshoeingasitOOdoug

HOKSE-SHOEING AS IT IS

AS IT SHOULD BE

SECTION OF A FOOT.

A. A. CRUST OR WALL.
B.B. INSENSITIVE LAMIN/E.
C.C. SENSITIVE LAMIN/E.

D. INSENSITIVE SOLE.

E. SENSITIVE SOLE.
F.F INSENSITIVE FROG.

G. SENSITIVE FROG.

H. CORONARY BAND

I. LARGE PASTERN BONE.

K. SMALL PASTERN BONE.

L. COFFIN BONE.

M. NAVICULAR BONE.

N.N. FLEXOR PERFORANS TENDON.

O. SEAT OF NAVICULAR DISEASE.

\

WD FTCT-RF.S OF THE PIORN BOX THAT COVERS THF FOOT.

FIG. A. FLAT, THIN HOOF WITH WEAK, LOW HEELS; HORN THICK AT THE TOE.
FIG B. VIEW OF THE INTERNAL CAVITY OF THE HOOF.

HORSE-SHOEING AS IT IS

AND

AS IT SHOULD BE

WILLIAM DOUGLAS

(Late) 10th Royal Hussars

' Whoever hath charge of a horse's feet, has the care of his whole body."

Old Saving

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1873

^)

NEW BOLTOff
CENTER

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.

PREFACE.

Passing down Ludgate Hill one day, my atten-

^ tion was directed to tlie pitiful condition of a

" horse in the shafts of a large waggon. The poor

."^ animal was not drawing the load, but was being

^ ■ driven down the descent by the crushing weight

behind, and, utterly unable, from the manner in

which it was shod, to withstand this pressure, it

had gathered its hind legs well under, and its

fore legs well in advance of its body, in a helpless

struggle to avert the fall, which it too evidently

knew was at hand. Never did I witness such a

picture of powerless terror as that horse presented,

as with eyes starting, body shaking, and limbs

stiffened, it was carried downwards against its

will, until the fore and hind feet slipping in the

same direction, it came down upon its left side

with a crash.

The thought of what agony that poor beast
must have suffered even before it fell has haunted
me ever since, and knowing if the horse had but
been able to use the supple elastic cushion nature

VI PREFACE.

has provided its feet with to prevent their slip-
ping— namely the frog — it could have easily con-
trolled the pressure from behind, I resolved if
possible to direct public attention to the present
cruel and unwarrantable system of shoeing horses,
believing it is only necessary for owners of horses,
etc., to understand something of the anatomy and
structure of the horse's foot to cause a more
humane and sensible method to be adopted.

The aim of this book, therefore, is to show
that horse-shoeing is no mystery, and that masters,
and owners of horses, and grooms, may effectually
avert injury to the horse and suffering to the
animal, by knowledge of a few simple rules.

• WILLIAM DOUGLAS.

5 Pearson Street, Battersea,
London, S.W.

CONTENTS.

INTEODUCTORY.

Injurious Effects of bad Shoeing — Good Qualities of tlie Horse — The
danger and uselessness of Bearing-reins — Similarity between their
use and the Farrier's customary Shoeing tactics — Disadvantages
of heavy Horse Shoes — The benefit which light Shoes confer —
" An ounce at the Heel tells more than a pound on the Back " —
Knowledge of Shoeing generally possessed by Grooms and Farriers
— Mischievous System of giving discount to Servants — Power for
good and evil which must remain in the hands of Grooms and
Coachmen — How Owners of Horses are treated if they attempt to
interfere in the Stable management — Lord Pembroke's opinion on
this point — Kemarks of Xenophon, Virgil, and Vegetius on the
natural Hardness of Horse's Hoofs — The gi-eat antiquity of Horse-
Shoes questioned — E,eprehensible practice of Horses standing on
litter during the daj' — Strengthening Qualities of Cold Water, the
only natural application for Cooling, Cleansing, and promoting the
Growth of Horn — Pernicious Habit of applying Grease or Tar to the
Horse's Hoof, and results ..... Pages 1-17

CHAPTER I.

THE FOOT OF THE HORSE ITS EXTERIOR.

The "Horn-box," and how, as a rule, the Farrier treats it — The vari-
ous parts of the Foot, their Functions, and what part requires
protection or armour — How the Growth of the different parts go
on — Description of the fibrous nature of the Crust — Uses of the
Frog, Sole, and Bars, their Shape, Elasticity, etc. — More about the
Crust — The Interior of the "Horn-box" — Plain Reasons for not
Cutting away any parts of the Frog, Sole, or Bars — Tlie structure
of the Frog, and its many uses further explained — Semi-vaulted
form of the Insensitive Sole, and what it protects — Is a Horse's

VIU CONTENTS.

Foot half-cloven ? — Advantages of its Shape — Which part of the
Hoof requires to be protected ? — Width of Web and Weight of
Shoes — Disinclination of Farriers to changes — The porous nature
of Horn — Necessity of the pores in it being left open in order not
only to permit Air to enter, but to allow Moisture from the interior
of the Foot to pass out — Age to which Horses ought to reach —
Bad Shoeing the greatest shortener of a Horse's existence

Pages 18-34

CHAPTER 11.

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

Sensitive portions of the Horse's Foot — Eesemblance in this respect
between these and the parts under the human Toe and Finger-nails
— The process of change continually going on from the interior to
the outward part of the Horse's Foot— Shape aud Uses of the
different Bones considered — Action of the back and front Sinews —
Production and spring-like uses of the Laminae — Injurious Effect
of compression upon the Interior parts of the Foot — How the Frog,
when healthy, acting as an Expander, neutralises Contraction,
besides acting as a preventer of Concussion — The Evils which
result from Contraction — Effect of Grease upon the Horn, etc. —
Derivation of the word Frog — How the ordinary Shoeing-smith
prepares the Foot for Shoeing — More about the Frog ; Heel-calks
and Wide-webbed Shoes — Cure of Thrush and Dropsole — Mr.
Greaves' experience Pages 35-45

CHAPTER m.

THE PRESENT METHOD OF PREPARING THE HORSE'S FOOT
FOR SHOEING,

English and French system of Shoeing — Charges for Shoeing iu
Gloucestershire, Cheshire, and London — Farrier's Costs and Profits
— How tlie Shoes are usually removed from the Horse's feet —
— Contrast between Healthy and Unliealthy Frogs before aud after
the knife — Fitting and Nailing on of the Shoe — Importance of the
varnish-like substance that covers the outside of the Crust — In-
jurious consequences of Rasping .... Pages 46-55

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER IV.

THE PROPOSED METHOD OF PREPARING THE FOOT FOR
THE SHOE.

Natural form of a Horse's Foot — Old writers, names of, who have
advocated Frog-pressure — The different functions of the various
parts of the Horse's Hoof — Natural progressive movement of a
Horse's foot when at a Walk or at a Trot — Illogical reason for the
Farrier's tliickening Iron, thinking thereby to decrease the Wear
— Effect quite the reverse : the Wear increased — Absurdity of con-
sidering the man who makes the Shoe superior to the one who
prepares the Foot for Shoeing and nails the Shoe on — How a
Farrier should proceed to Shoe a Horse — Figure of a nearly perfect
Foot prepared for Shoeing — How Frog-pressure may be attained,
illustrated by two figures — Destructive Effect of applying a red-
hot Shoe to the Foot, instanced by the case of Mr. Bevan's Horse
" Hue and Cry " — How to obtain a Level-bearing without Burning
the Shoe into its place — How the Shoe should be Nailed on ;
number of Nails necessary, etc. — Heel-calks, and what they
lead to — Examples — Responsibility of Owners — Mr. Lawrence's
opinion Pages 56-71

CHAPTER V.

farriers' tools AND THEIR SEPARATE USES.

Pages 72-76

CHAPTER VI.

THE PRESERVATION OF THE HOOF.

How essential Cleanliness and Coolness are to keep the Hoof in a sound
healthy state — Detrimental Effect of Tar or Grease upon Horn — A
Groom's argument for applying grease to the Hoof— Cow-dung
injurious as an application to "stop" Horse's feet with, being of
a Heating instead of a Cooling nature — Some old ineffective pre-
scriptions for Softening the Horn — Water the only Improver —
Heating properties of Bedding, its injurious Efl'ect upon the Horn
of the Hoof — Cavalry troop Horses that are not bedded down

CONTENTS.

during thejlay enjoying better Health than OfBcers' Chargers that
have their Stalls carpeted with Straw — What Lord Pembroke
stated on this subject a century since — Advantages of good
Ventilation Pages 77-82

CHAPTEE VII.

OF DISEASES THAT IVIAY BE ATTREBUTED TO SHOEING,

Contraction the principal cause of Corns : the Eemedy, Frog Pressure
— Cure of the Horse " Captain " — Thrush and Greasy Heels ascrib-
able to the same cause that produces Corns— Cure to be sought for
by similar Means — The fatal Consequences of Pvasping illustrated in
a Malformed Hoof, shown at the International Exhibition of 1871
— Perfect and Imperfect Hoof described — Remarkable specimen of
a Section of a Malformed Hoof — Progressive Growth of the Horn —
Natural action of the different parts of a Horse's Foot described —
More about the evil Consequences which Contraction promotes —
Mutilation of the Frog the true cause of Navicular Disease— Mis-
chievous Consequences of Contraction upon the Bones of the Foot
— The necessity of detecting the first Symptoms of Contraction of
the Horn, and an easy Method for Grooms to discover Avhen the
Shape of a Horse's Foot begins to alter — Brushing, Overreaching,
and Speedy-cut ; their Cause and Cure — Dangerous as well as
useless Contrivance, namely, thickening one Side of the Shoe, to
obviate Cutting or Brushing, etc. — Shoeing perfectly level the only
Eemedy — Laminites, or Founder, what chiefly due to, etc.

Pages 83-100

CHAPTER VIII.

SOME SUGGESTIONS HOW A SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE
horse's FOOT COULD BEST BE ACQUIRED BY FARRIERS.

The dislike to a change of System which most Farriers feel, they pre-
fen-ing to let tilings remain as they are and have been — What con-
stitutes a good Shoeing-smith — What is considered by the Trade
generally to do so — The Farrier Foreman of the Veterinary College,
Glasgow, feat in Shoe-making, etc. — The too prevalent Ignorance
of the Physiological parts of a Horse's Foot among Farriers — The

CONTENTS. XI

specific, Education — Intelligence no drawback to any good "Work-
man, but the contrary — Why should the Farrier who puts the
iron Shoe into shape be better paid than his Fellow who has to
prepare the Foot and nail the Shoe to it ? — Knowledge the best
means for getting Farriers to feel a true interest in their Work
and the Animals they have to shoe — The consequent Importance
of knowing what has to be shod — The beauty and usefulness of
every part of a Horse's Foot commented upon — Drunkenness the
cause of much Ignorance as well as Cruelty among Farriers — The
establishment of a Horse Shoe Company that would shoe on
humane common-sense principles, and who would only employ
Abstainers from alcoholic Drinks, advocated . Pages 101-111

CHAPTER IX.

ABOUT HORSE SHOES, OLD AND NEW.

Prejudice of Farriers against New Shoes — Sir W. Hope on the Panton
Shoe — Description of M. La Fosse's "Lunette" Horse Shoe — Mr.
Osmer's "seated" Shoe, Mr. Colman's Shoe — Question, does the
Horse's Foot expand or contract when in motion, or does it do
neither the one nor the other ? — Horse Shoes made from time to time
to admit of expansion, namely, Mr. Bracey Clarke's jointed Shoe,
and Messrs. Eotche, Hams, and Lanty's Expanding Shoes — Their
Failure and Cause — Sii' John Eogers' Screiv Shoe — Description of
Messrs. Woodin, Palmer, and Gray's patent Horse Shoes —
Colonel Fitzwj'gram and Mr. Haycock's proposed Fore Shoes,
having them made at the Toes to resemble old Shoes — Non-likeli-
hood of them answering — Mr. Fleming's Shoe, and its resemblance
to the Shoe Mr. Coleman recommended long ago — Mr. Fleming's
Remarks about Coleman's ability — Farrier's Expenses for Iron,
Labour, etc. etc., to shoe a Horse all round, and what it ought to
cost the Customer — Difficulty of getting Farriers in the Army —
Examples of this, even Tailors turning Shoeing-smiths — Lord
Napier of Magdala's remarks, and Exti'act of a Letter from the
Principal Veterinary Surgeon of India, upon the Inconipetency of
Army Farriers — Extract from the Veterinarian to the same purpose
— Advantages of Machine-made Horse Shoes for the Army, as their
introduction into the Service would not only lessen the difficulty,
but be a saving to the Country of over £40,000 per annum

Pages 112-142

XU CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE X.

THE CHAUSStE HORSE SHOE.

The prevention of Slipping one of the chief things striven for in nearly
all Horse Shoes — This insured in the Chaussee Horse Shoe by the
insertion of an Elastic Substance in the Groove or Fuller of the
Shoe — The mere act of putting the Shoe on the ground not the
chief cause of Wear, but the Slipping — Advantages of the
Chaussee Horse Shoe in lessening Concussion, the prolific cause
of Kingbones, Spavins, and Splints — Being a Machine-made Shoe
it would be cheaper than a Hand-made one, while the gutta-
percha fixed in the groove would add much to its Wear and little
to its Weight Pages 143-148

CHAPTEE XI.

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF KINDNESS UPON HORSES.

The Result that kind Treatment has npon the Horse — His Intelligence,
and the Affection he displays towards those who use him kindly —
What Ill-usage and Neglect causes him to become, namely. Slow
of Pace, Stupid, and Spiteful — Description of a good Groom — The
— frecpient barbarous Treatment of young Horses on being first
Shod — The Tyranny and Cruelty often practised by Carmen and
Coachmen — How different Asiatics and Arabs use their Horses —
The Simplicity and Timidity which are characteristics of all young
Horses — How to replace Simplicity by Intelligence, and Timidity
by Trustfulness in the Animals — Conclusion Pages 149-157

Index ........ 159

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

I. Section of a Horse's Foot

II. Two figures of the Horn Box that covers the Foot
1-2. Two figures of Frogs (1) before ; (2) and after the Knife page 49

3. A nearly perfect Foot prepared for shoeing
4-5. Two figures, showing Feet shod, with Frogs down

6. Some Farriers' Tools ....

7. Eemarkable specimen of a section of a Horse's Hoof

8. To illustrate the Charlier Shoe and system • .

9. Do. do. do.

10. To illustrate the Goodenough Shoe and system

11. The Chaussee Horse Shoe, with section thereof

Frontisjyiece.

63

64

75

90

126

128

132

145

INTEODUCTION,

Philip Astley, in his now almost forgotten book on
Horsemanship, very justly remarks, " Certainly he that
prevents disease does more than he that cures," and
whoever has had the oj^portunity of observing the dis-
eases which render horses unserviceable, must feel con-
vinced of the applicability of this maxim to the present
subject. It is well known that three-fourths of those
ailments are due to some defect or injury to the feet,
which could in many instances be traced to bad shoeing ;
and it is a matter for censure, as well as regret, that evils
in our method of shoeing should flourish at the present
day nearly as much as they did two centuries ago.

It certainly seems strange, that while the structure
of the human hand has at all times been a subject for
much and deserved admiration, the foot of the horse
from a similar point of view has failed to become an
equal subject for wonder. And when we recall the
notably noble qualities of the animal, the courage, speed,
strength, endurance, and docility of this incomparably
best friend of man, our astonishment must materially
increase. Combining the courage of the lion with the
fleetness of the stag, the strength of the ox with the
docility and affection of the dog, he daily and hourly

B

2 INTRODUCTION.

ungrudgingly performs sucli unselfisli services to liis
master, as should call forth the gratitude of all, Avho,
either as owners or servants, have to do with him.
Surely, then, it ought not only to be a duty but a
pleasure for us to make such a willing slave as happy
and comfortable as it is in our power to do ; and feel-
ing in the performance that we could not do too much
for one so deserving of the utmost sympathy and kind-
ness at our hands. But I am sorry to say that, so far
from this being the case, it is too often quite the reverse ;
and stranger to add, he frequently suffers as much from
ill-advised kindnesses as he does from cruelty. With
the wrongly perverse idea that he needs holding up to
his work, his head is tied to his collar by a long strap,
termed " a hearing rein" which is so adjusted, that if he
makes but one false step, he must fall helplessly to the
ground. Ignorant selfish humanity will not jDerceive
that from a horse's head to the tip of his tail is a series
of joints, every one of which, when the horse is in
motion, requires to have free play ; and that it is as
necessary for a horse to turn his head, neck, and tail,
when in active motion, as it is for ourselves to have the
use of our arms when walking or running.

By somewhat similar tactics we cover the bottom
of his feet with wide thick pieces of circular iron, so
constructed as to give " good cover " to a part that nature
has sufficiently protected. Nature, who never errs, has
placed at the extremities of horses' legs pillars of horn
for the animal to stand upon ; that being a substance
which, possessing the two essentials of lightness and

INTRODUCTION. 3

strength, is peculiarly well adapted for the purpose. That
lightness is an essential of paramount importance at the
end of a long lever like a horse's leg, is a fact most people,
I should imagine, will readily admit, and yet, despite this
fact, we allow the light but strong protection to be cut
away and replaced by a wide piece of iron, often weigliing
five pounds, and in some instances as much as seven.

But the heaviness of the metal attached to do duty
for much of what has in most instances been ignorantly
removed, is not the only evil. " The horny substance on
the feet of animals," as Sir Thomas More termed the
hoof, is, when healthy, largely endowed with the property
of elasticity, and this being the case we can easily imagine
how much the natural play of the foot is impeded when
a wide iron shoe is attached to it. If this much is granted,
we have only to keep in mind that the horn is not only
an elastic but an expanding substance, in so much as
there is going on a continual growth of horn, w^hile the
metal shoe, in its cold hardened state when attached to
the foot, remains in form unchanged, to be aware that one
or the other must give, when our common sense tells us
it will be the horn.

That shoeing, from the nature of our roads, is a neces-
sity, I will at once concede, but at the same time I feel
bound to state that the evil should be kept within cer-
tain limits, so far as the width, length, and weight of
horse shoes are concerned. It is a common but delusive
idea that heavy horses require much heavier shoes in pro-
portion to their size than what light horses do. Now if
we only remember that cart and other large horses have

4 INTEODUCTION.

feet in every way proportionate to tlieir bodies, we at once
perceive the absurdity of making a dray horse drag about
with him shoes weighing five or even seven pounds a-
piece, while a shoe that weighs ten or twelve ounces is
considered sufficiently heavy for a riding horse to be shod
with. AVhy should there not be a limit to the weight of
iron every description of horse had to carry on his feet
seems a natural question to ask, a limit when exceeded
that ought to be punishable with a penalty for every
offence. The scale might be as follows : —

Pony shoes to weigh from 6 oz. to 10 oz.

Nags „

10

„ 14

Carriage horses

16

„ 20

Cab „ „

18

„ 22

Light draught „

22

„ 30

Heaw do. ,,

30

„ 40

It does not follow because a dray horse is twice the
weight of a hunter, that the former requires shoes seven
times heavier than the latter, in fact, as the horn on
their hoofs is of strength in proportion to the relative
size of the animals, their shoes need only be made in
strength and thickness according to a similar ratio. In
my opinion a heavy shoe helps to wear itself out, as a
horse so overwei2;hted must travel much harder than he
would do if he wore a lighter description of shoe. To
show, however, that I am not advocating what is practi-
cally impossible, I will relate a case in point. The
directors of one of our railway companies, being desirous
of testing the truths which the believers of shoeing on
natural principles assert, had some truck and van horses

INTRODUCTION. 5

shod witli narrow webbed slioes, lu this experiment
the frogs, soles, and bars, were left in their entirety, none
of the horn being removed by the farrier's knife, except
that portion of the crust which had grown since the
previous shoeing. The old set of shoes when taken off
weighed 17 lbs. 14 oz., while the new narrow-webbed
ones put on, weighed only 10 lbs. the set ; therefore we
may easily assume that the original v/eight of the one
set of shoes was at least double that of the other. And
what was the result ? Why, that the liglit shoes wore
longer than the heavy ones had done ; the average wear
of the former being four weeks and five days each shoe,
while the latter wore but three weeks on an average.
But it is not the wear of iron so much as the wear of
horse-flesh that I am anxious to direct attention to now.
It will be seen, as the shoes that were taken off must
have weighed 5 lbs. a-piece when new, those horses
were at once benefited by having 10 lbs. less iron each
to carry about with them. I will not attempt to
calculate what difference 2| lbs. of metal placed at the
end of a lever two and a half feet long would be equi-
valent to, but will simply look at it as 10 lbs. extra
weight carried by each of these animals. A horse when
walking lifts his feet all round about thirty times a
minute, and if we allow his day's work to last eight
hours, the difference in favour of the lighter shod
animals is over 64 tons, as under : —

30 X 10 = 300 lbs. per minute.

.300 X 60 = 18,000 „ „ hour.
18,000 X 8 = 144,000 „ „ day of 8 hours =
above, 64 tons — to be Ufted unnecessarily.

b INTRODUCTION.

Another noticeable improvement was observable in the
step of the horses, who, with the lighter shoes on, lifted
their feet much higher and more gracefully than ever
they had been known to do before. This, however, only
proved the truth of the old saying, that "An ounce at
the heel tells more than a pound on the back."

Before going further, I must state that this essay is
not intended for the instruction of veterinary surgeons,
who, of course, know more of the subject than I can tell
them. My object is simply to initiate owners of horses
in the system not only of shoeing from the common-
sense points of view, but likewise to give them some
idea of the structure, conformation, and proper functions
of the different parts of the horse's foot. Therefore, in
following out this purpose, I shall endeavour to avoid as
much as possible technical language, depending on the
more simple words to explain my meaning, in the hope
that an elementary style will be easier understood by
those for whose benefit this treatise has principally been
written, i. e., for all who own or have the care of horses.

There are two classes of men who, from their re-
spective avocations in being always connected with
horses, are credited by the public generally with having
a considerable amount of knowledge as to the ailments
of these animals, and yet who generally know but little ;
therefore it will not be out of place perhaps for me to
mention them first. I refer to grooms and farriers, the
majority of whom, beyond being able to tell a horse's
age up to a certain period, have, as a rule, in other
respects, notably foot diseases and the principles of

INTEODUCTION. 7

slioeing, but a limited amount of knowledge. Ignorance
is presumably at the root of these evils, and until it is
incumbent on shoeing-smiths, coachmen, etc., to learn
more about the physiological study of a horse's foot, it
is to be feared matters will not much improve. Farriers,
as a class, are not an exceptionally well-informed one,
and it has often seemed to me a surprising thing that
this should be so. Possibly they have a complete
answer to my remark on their lack of knowledge of
matters connected with their own particular province,
and I should be glad to learn they have. To my idea
the man who only pursues his trade or profession from
no higher motive than to satisfy his appetite, and sup-
ply himself with lodging and clothing, is a man much
to be pitied, for I consider nothing ennobles the mind
more, or makes existence more delightful, than the feel-
ing of being a necessary portion of the community, a
portion that if removed it would be difficult to replace.
Now, whoever has to do with horses may be in this
position if they chose only to be kind and attentive to
the animals they have in their charge. I have known
men in the army refuse promotion because that woidd
have separated them from their steeds, their tried
companions for years. It was not of themselves they
thought, they could have borne the separation, but
what they feared was, that their old chargers would
not fare so well with new masters as they had done
wdth them, the old ones. Doubtless grooms and coach-
men may be found who have refused better situations
for precisely similar reasons, and if so, such men are

8 INTRODUCTION.

very valuable. The prevalent idea, however, is, that
grooms, coachmen, and farriers, are usually neither kind
enough nor forbearing enough to horses under their
care. Yet the latter are the very men to whose tender
mercies and judgment we are obliged to entrust the care
of our horse's health, for in the words of the old saying,
placed on the title-page of this essay, " Wlioever hath
charge of a horse's feet has the care of his whole body."

This nescience in many grooms and coachmen of horse-
shoeing is much to be regretted, while the mischievous
system of farriers giving a percentage to servants on
shoeing-bills is a matter even more to be deplored, as it
is the bad tradesmen who give most discount. Perhaps,
as is alleged, some gentlemen do not pay those who
have the care of their horses sufficiently, for the very
reason that they, the masters, know their coachmen
and gi'ooms add to their wages by demanding contribu-
tions from the tradesmen who shoe or forage the horses, or
supply coaches, saddlery, and harness. In such instances,
however, I believe it would be found more economical
to raise the wages upon the direct understanding with
both tradesmen and servants that no discount was either
to be offered or received, the penalties being tlie with-
drawal of custom on the one hand and instant dismissal
on the other. Under such regulations the prices now
charged, I believe, would fall, when released from the
percentage impost, proportionally far lower than it
would be necessary to augment the groom or coach-
man's wages.

The power for good or evil, which to a gi-eat extent

INTEODUCTIOK 9

must always remain in the liancls of servants who have
charge of horses, renders it all the more necessary they
should he made to understand that the welfare of their
four-footed friends depends quite as much upon these
being shod on humane common-sense principles as upon
good feeding and grooming. And from Englishmen
being naturally fond of horses, I feel convinced if
coachmen and grooms can be but made to understand
— and no reason exists why they should not — how
essential it is for a horse's foot to be allowed to remain
in as near its natural state as possible, they will become
as anxious as their masters in a cause which at present
they regard with distrust, if not dislike.

And if it is imperative for grooms to understand
something of the farrier's art, it is more binding upon
owners to acquire a like information, because it affects
their interests more. A gentleman should be able not
only to tell whether any complaint made by his groom
against the farrier was correct or not, but also to detect
anything wrong in the shoeing, which an idle or an un-
principled servant might wish to conceal. Unfortunately,
all gentlemen have not the time to look after their stud
strictly, and some who have ventured to interfere with
this — their servant's particular province — have not been
very successful. With a certain description of grooms
and coachmen any attempt by their master of this
kind is met with by a regular system of annoyance, or,
as this class terms it, Uiskring, which soon tires the
master out. For instance, if a gentleman changes his
farrier without this sort of groom's sanction, or ventures

10 INTRODUCTION.

to insist upon having liis horses shod in any particular
way, the blister is applied at once. " From early morn
till dewy eve " nothing but accidents are reported, such
as "The chestnut was down again this morning, sir ; can't
stand on his legs with them new shoes ;" or it is, " The
bay mare is cutting frightfully behind, told you how it
would be, sir, if you got So and So to shoe for you ;" or
else it is, " The dun cob's gone as lame as a cat since he
was shod yesterday;" and so the blister is applied until
the gentleman, for the sake of peace and quietness, tells
his groom or coachman to take the horses to Jericho,
and have them shod how and by whom he likes.

If this was a mere matter of pounds, shillings, and
pence to owners, as regards the shoeing of their horses,
I should have been loathe to speak so plainly as I have
done ; but when I think of the immense suffering that
those best friends of man endure, daily and hourly,
perhaps through the ignorance of dependants, I feel
that in the interests of humanity I must not only speak,
but speak plainly, and I herewith appeal to all owners
of horses to assist in putting down the present state of
things. There is really nothing, it will be seen, in
horse-shoeing or horse-management which any one
could not acquire a better knowledge of in six months
than some farriers and grooms now possess ; and when
really masters, by knowledge as well as by position,
owners will find themselves to have acquired by this
knowledge not only a greater amount of respect from
their servants, but that their horses' health and condition
have improved as well.

INTRODUCTION. 11

I do not wish it, however, to be supposed that these
sentiments of mine are at all novel. A hundred years ago
the Earl of Pembroke drew public attention to the same
facts : " Whoever," his lordship w^rote, " lets his farrier,
groom, or coachman, even mention anything more than
water-gruel, a clyster, or a little bleeding, and that too
very seldom, or pretend to talk of the nature of the
feet, of the seat of lameness, sicknesses, or their cures,
may be certain to find himself very shortly and very
absurdly quite on foot. It is incredible what tricking
knaves most stable-people are, and what daring attempts
they will make to gain an ascendant over their masters,
in order to have their own foolish projects complied
with. In shoeing, for example, I have more than once
known that, for the sake of establishing their own
ridiculous and pernicious system, when their masters
have differed from it, they have on purpose lamed
horses, and imputed the fault to the shoes, after having
in vain tried, by every sort of invention and lies, to
discredit the use of them."

Having pointed out these serious evils, I will now
proceed with my subject, and after giving a short de-
scription of horse-shoeing in early times, point out how
essentially necessary a proper shoe and style of shoeing
is to the natural spring and action of the horse's foot,
for upon these facts the whole matter rests.

The most careful investigation into the past history
of horse-shoes leads me to believe that farriery as an art
has but little claim to antiquity. Horse shoes, ap-
parently, were unknown to the Greeks, and if to them.

^*

12 INTRODUCTION.

to all other nations of earlier ages, Xenoplion, who
wrote the most complete work on horsemanship of his
day, makes no mention of horse-shoes, wliile, on the
other hand, he is particularly explicit as to the means
to be taken to harden and toughen horses' hoofs.
Specially for this purpose is a particular kind of stone
pavement recommended, the advantages of which he
has thus described : " It will cool, harden, and improve
a horse's feet merely by his standing upon it, while the
same benefit Avill result to his hoofs as if he were made
to travel on stony roads every day." Another writer,
Vegetius, holds forth in a similar strain, informino; us
"That the floor of the stable should not be made of
soft wood, but of solid hard oak, which will make the
horses' hoofs as hard as rocks." The testimony of Virgil
is to the like effect, when he writes " Cavatque tdlurem
et solido gravitcr sonat ungula cornu" or, as we may
freely translate it, "The horse by the hardness of his
horn hoofs, causes the ground to re-echo when he paws
it in his strength."

Coming down to later times, the earliest record we
have of iron shoes being used for horses is in the de-
scription of a shoe said to have belonged to the horse of
Childeric, who lived A.D. 481. Mr. Beranger, in his in-
teresting book about horses, mentions that an account of
this shoe is preserved in " Montfaucon's Antiquities of
France ; " and from the drawing which accompanies the
description it perfectly resembles the shoes used at
present (1768) in that country. The same writer in-
forms us "That the Kalmuck horses are never shod,

INTRODUCTION. 13

uor does it appear " says he " that shoes are necessary ;
the climate being very dry and the soil hard, the hoof is
likewise so solid and indurated that nothinij can hurt
it." Farther on he writes, "the antients did not shoe
their horses ; that is to say they did not nail upon their
hoofs any pieces of iron, or of other metal in the form
and shape of the modern horse-shoes, hut when they in-
tended to defend them from anything that might annoy
them in travelling, or the hardness of tlie ground, they
fastened upon their feet, by means of straps and liga-
tures, a sort of sandal stocking, or what we call boots.
These were made of sedges twisted together like a mat,
or else of leather, and were sometimes strengthened
with plates of iron, and adorned by rich and ostentatious
people with silver and gold, as in the instances of Nero
and Popp?ea. In the collection of the late Baron Socks'
pastes of antique stones, there is one wdiich represents a
soldier binding or tying on this sort of shoe."

Shoeing of horses has therefore been apparently only
a necessity for the last few centuries, from which it may
be concluded that the horse has been framed to have
feet so tender and fragile as to make the use of iron as
a protection to the horn compulsory. And with such
facts before us, we might easily conclude that iron horse-
shoes, only used at first to protect the feet of horses
where the horn was unnaturally weak, had from this
partial introduction gradually extended to all. But
even now, in the Orkneys, in the mountains of "Wales,
the wilds of Exmoor and Dartmoor, many parts of
the continent of Europe, and in a considerable por-

14 INTKODUCTION.

tion of the rest of the globe, horses and ponies ran
about over rocks, through ravines, and up precipitous
ridges unshod. Yet this is all done Avithout difficulty
and to the evident advantage of their hoofs, for these
animals never suffer from contracted feet, or from corns,
sand-cracks, etc., until they have become civilised, and
been shod. Yet we continue cutting away more and
more horn, and putting on more and more cover — how I
detest that word — without ever perceiving that when
doing so we are acting in direct opposition to nature.
Goats do not suffer from navicular disease or contracted
feet, yet I firmly believe that if the experiment of
shoeing with iron was but tried upon them, in a very
few generations they would be as great sufferers from
those diseases as horses are now.

It is precisely the same ignorant system carried out
in close stables, carpeted with straw at all times, that
now-a-days makes our horses so sensitive to every
change in the weather, although in a state of nature
no animal — not excepting the dog even — can stand cold
of the utmost severity so well. The system of hot
stables, and the horses always standing upon bedding,
bears influenza as its fruit. This tells equally against
the growth of healthy horn on the horses' hoofs, which
being intended to carry them over hard roads or rocky
paths in safety, — we, to ensure this, from the moment a
horse is foaled, keep him either in grass fields soft to
tread upon, or in warm stables standing on soft straw,
and then we are surprised that his hoofs should become
dry and brittle, instead of keeping moist, tough, and hard.

INTRODUCTION. 15

It is a remarkable fact that cavalry troop horses, which
are not bedded down during the day, never suffer so
much from corns, contraction, thrush, and grease, as the
officers' chargers do, which have straw to stand upon
whenever they are in the stable. We may depend that
whatever has a tendency to heat the horn is injurious
and leads to contraction, that most prolific of foot dis-
eases ; and therefore straw-carpeted stalls are hurtful to
the animals, which the coldest flooring of stables can
never be.

Water, again — and too much of it cannot be applied
to the feet and legs — is far before any other treatment
for most diseases affecting those parts ; because, being
the natural appliance to horses' hoofs, and at the same
time cooling to the legs and strengthening and bracing
to the muscles, its action on those parts must always
prove beneficial. The practice of washing down horses'
legs, therefore, with cold water when they come off a
journey or from work not over severe cannot be suffi-
ciently commended, provided that the legs are well
rubbed afterwards, when they will soon dry. Grooms
use warm water and bandages ; but as warm water only
relaxes the sinews, in most instances already overstrained
by exertion, the very coldness in the legs and feet are
produced which the warm water and the bandages are
intended to prevent. I am aware that Colonel Fitzwyg-
ram, in his otherwise excellent book upon horse-shoeing,
objects to washing down, under the impression that this
treatment produces cracked heels ; but so far from this
being the case it is found practically to be quite the

16 INTRODUCTION.

reverse. In India, for instance, horses are exposed to
liea\y rains for ^yeeks together, without taking any ill
effects and in the finest of weather there, the (jliora-
wallahs use little other means to keep their horses clean
than washing them down daily all over.

In regard to horse-shoeing, I am confident that one-
half of the difficulty would immediately disappear if
owners of horses would but bestow the same careful
attention to the work of the farrier that they do to
grooming and other matters. In the interests of
humanity alone an alteration has become imperative, for
however necessary it may be to protect the hoofs of
horses by rims of iron, it is certainly scandalous to first
destroy the horn by .rasping, paring, and burning, and
afterwards nail on great wide and heavy slioes to sup-
ply the defect or want of that substance which had
been ruthlessly destroyed.

A reference to the " contents " at the beginning will
show how the subject will be treated. In the first
chapter, for instance, I will endeavour to point out that
most of the diseases to which horses' feet are liable may
be traced to the inconsiderate method commonly
practised in shoeing them, combined with the hurtful
treatment the hoofs are subjected to in the stables.
Farriers in general are so desirous to excel in neat work,
and grooms in having the neatness done to pattern,
which, when combined with the pernicious habit of
greasing the horn to make it shine, that the wonder is
not only that one-third of our horses become lame in
consequence of this treatment, but that the whole of

4

INTRODUCTION. 17

them are not incapacitated by it for work. If a horse's
foot is dry and brittle, the groom covers it with grease
or bees'-wax, destroying the vitality of the horn thereby ;
and the farrier, not to be behind hand in his share of the
punishment, ■ covers the foot with a heavy iron shoe.
A very little knowledge of the structure of a horse's
foot would inform these men that grease, by stopping
the pores in the horn, prevented the air from acting bene-
ficially upon its surface, and that the foot, which before
could scarcely carry itself, would be quite unable after-
wards to carry so much additional weight of iron.

The remedy remains in the hands of gentlemen who
own horses ; let theirs be the study how a horse should
be shod, and how cared for ; and then, being able to in-
struct their grooms and farriers — they, the owners, will
earn the rich reward of having prevented much suffering
from being inflicted upon these noble animals ; besides
keeping them not only in better condition for work but
in better health as well.

18 THE FOOT OF THE HOESE :

CHAPTER I.

THE FOOT OF THE HOESE — ITS EXTEPJOE.

Befoe:^ entering upon the subject of shoeing, it would
be desirable perhaps to describe what has to be shod.
This is the hoof; a part of the foot which, to the super-
ficial observer, presents but little scope for study, — simply
a horn box to cover the interior parts and protect them
from injury ; its structure — whether fibrous or otherwise,
is seldom inquired into, even by those whose whole
study it ought to be to do so. A farrier picks up a
horse's foot preparatory to shoeing, not for the purpose
of detecting any malformation, and then striving to put
on a shoe that will remedy existing defects, but only to
look at the size, and see if he has a set of shoes ready-
made which will answer. If he has not the exact
article he either cuts down a larger or draws out a
smaller shoe to the requisite size, burns it into its
position, and nails it on, without ever considering it a
subject for reflection whether the horn will not be in-
jured by the application of strong heat, or if contraction
of the foot will not necessarily follow when an ill-formed
or badly adjusted shoe is thus attached to it.

Now, as the great art in shoeing is to preserve the
foot in the best condition for work at all times, it stands
to reason that the best means of doing so is to follow

ITS EXTERIOE. 19

nature as near as possible. The horse walks upon the
lower edge of the crust (or wall of the foot), the frog, sole,
and bars — upon that portion of the foot which comes in
contact with the ground. Now, as the frog, sole, and
bars can take any amount of wear if left in their
natural state, without injury, while the crust, from its
more brittle nature, will not do so, it is evident that
it is only the latter which needs protection ; therefore
it follows that the mechanical difficulty of fitting the
shoe to the foot simply means the placing of a 'rim of
iron round the portion likely to be damaged, in a way
which would least annoy the animal. The foot of a
horse is so formed that every part may be said to be
constructed with direct reference to two important
objects — viz. great firmness and great elasticity ; the
former to sustain the heavy weight, and the latter to
diminish the pressure of that weight when subjected
to the impulse of rapid and vigorous action. The
principal parts of the foot are known by the following
names : —

The {hoof or) outer iJortion, The inner portion.

The crust or wall. The laminse.

The bars. The coffin bone.

The frog. The smaller pastern bone.

The cleft of the frog. The navicular bone.

The horny sole. The coronary ligament.

The heels. The sensible frog.

The coronet. The sensible sole.

The quarters. The extensor tendon or front

sinew.
The perforous tendon or back

sinew.

20 THE FOOT OF THE HO"RSE :

There are other ligaments, tendons, bloodvessels, and
nerves that enter into the construction of the foot, hut
the above-named will be sufficient for such general
information as is required by those for whose instruction
I am writing.

The hoof is that casing which includes and protects
all the rest of the foot, and is in its nature similar to the
nails of the human body, each growing or proceeding
from the cutis or true skin. Where the true skin begins
to change to horn, as at the coronary band, the hoof is
extremely soft, thin, and white, becoming harder and
thicker as it grows downwards. We therefore find the
hoof, hard and horny as it is externally, constantly
undergoing reformation, the new hoof progressing from
the hair down^-ards in a similar manner to the human
nail. In fact the crust or wall of the forefoot corre-
sponds in a remarkable degree with the finger-nail, not
only in its constant reproduction, but in the gradual
thickening of the horn from its root to its extremity. It
is hardest and thickest in the middle, in consequence of
which any force is better exercised from that part than
from the sides, where it is softer and thinner. Again,
if the finger nail is attentively examined, it will be found
very thin and tender where it leaves the skin, and,
though it becomes gradually thicker as it advances to
the top of the finger, the sensitive or quick part
continues as long as it adheres to the flesh below.
When the adhesion ceases, the horn at its extremity
becomes so callous that Ave can pare it with scissors
almost without knowing we are doing so, far less feeling

ITS EXTEEIOK. 21

pain. It is precisely the same with the crust oi? wall of
the foot, for where it joins the skin, that is at the point
where the hair terminates, it is very thin, and this thin
portion is called the " coronary ring " ; the " coronary
ligament " being a thick folding of the skin immediately
covered by this thin part of the crust. The term " liga-
ment " here, I should remark, is scarcely properly
applied, as it is a mere covering to a mass of blood-
vessels that supply the foot, having neither the sub-
stance nor the use of that organ which by anatomists is
termed a ligament. The coronet is a circular line
which marks the union of the pastern with the hoof.

The crust, though horny, is not solid, but fibrous in
its texture ; the design of it being twofold — first, to
protect the sensitive foot from blows, and, second, by its
elasticity, to prevent injury from concussion when the
limb descends to the ground. If the crust was solid it
would bind the foot like a tight bandage, and consequently
would allow of no expansion when the weight of the body
pressed the cof&n-joint downwards ; being fibrous, how-
ever, it yields to the extension of the foot at every step.
In the forefoot, the hoof being thickest at the toe, admits
of an elasticity, the point of the toe being as it were the
fulcrum of the spring when the horse is most violently
exerted, going at full speed or drawing a heavy weight.
This elasticity, commencing at the frog, is continued
from the quarters to the toe, the strongest and hardest
part. The fibres here are consequently more numerous,
and as their position is also nearly perpendicular, they are
best adapted for bearing the shock or strain of a horse

22 THE FOOT OF THE HORSE '.

when it is in motion. This uprightness in the fibres
takes, however, a more slanting form as they get towards
the heels, which, being assisted by the frog and bars,
do not necessarily require to be of equal strength as at
the toe, while the thinness of horn at that part permits of
a slight expansion there when the weight of the horse
pushes the flexor tendon down upon its natural cushion
— the frog. What is termed the bars of the foot are form-
ed by an involution of the crust on either side of the foot
before it reaches the heels, at the parts which are called
the quarters. They enclose the extremities of the cartil-
ages, and act in a similar manner in the contraction and
expansion of the foot ; for when the ground is struck
the elasticity of the bars helps to push open the heels,
which, as they rise in the air, contract immediately
again when the quarters are relieved from the pressure
upwards and outwards to which they had been sub-
jected.

The frog, which is properly but a continuation of
the coronary band, returns from the heels inwards and
forwards like a dart, or the shape of the letter V . It is
enabled to yield to the expansion of the foot by having
a cleft or opening in the middle, which thus expands and
contracts as it presses upon or recedes from the ground.
Though the frog is thicker than the parts from which it
proceeds it is less compact in its texture, although the
fibres of which it is composed are finer than the other
portions, the ditl'erence being in their substance as wool
is to horse hair.

If the crust is closely examined by aid of a micro-

ITS EXTERIOR. 23

scope, its structure will be found to consist of a number
of bristle-like fibres standing on end, but bearing dia-
gonally towards the ground. From the particular
longitudinal construction of the fibres, it follows, as
already explained, that they will bear a great amount of
weight so long as they are kept in their natural state.
The crust so viewed resembles a number of small tubes
bound together by a hardened glue-like substance.
Whoever has seen a mitrailleur or volley gun, with its
numerous barrels all soldered together, can form a very
good idea of the peculiar structure of the crust, especially
if they were likewise to imagine the tubes to be filled
with a thick fluid, the use of which is to nourish and
preserve them. If we pass our hand slowly down the
horse's leg from the knee, we will find that the skin is
connected to the hoof by a band about three-quarters of
an inch in width, which being thicker than the skin and
more pliant than the horn is the connecting link between
the two. This, as I have already mentioned, is termed
the coronary band, and can be easily distinguished after
a horse has been out in the rain, or standing in water for
any time. Of a bluish colour, and closely resembling in
appearance a thin band of vulcanised india-rubber, it is
not only the bond of union between the skin and the
hoof, but from it comes the secretion of horn that sup-
plies the crust, as well as the fluid which covers the
crust like a varnish, to enable it to retain the natural
moisture necessary to its well-being. A still closer in-
spection of the fibres will show they possess a peculiar
retentive quality, being in structure or shape much like

24 THE FOOT OF THE HORSE :

ears of "barley. This conformation has its advantages
and disadvantages, these being, that while it offers a
resistance against foreign matter descending through the
fibres, it assists the passage of anything upwards.
Therefore it is that the nail, which fastens on the shoe
to the foot, can be driven in with less force, and holds
firmer when in, than if the substance was of a different
nature ; an advantage undoubtedly. On the other hand,
however, as this peculiarity facilitates the passage of
grains of sand, which once in the horn cannot get back
again, and as they are the cause of sandcracks, the dis-
advantage will be equally apparent.

In order that the hoof may be strongest where the
greatest strain comes, the toes of the fore feet and the
quarters of the hind feet are the thickest and hardest
parts of their respective walls. In the former we find
the crust, thickest at the toe, becomes gradually thinner
at the quarters, and weakest at the heels ; while in the
latter the reverse is the case, the crust there being
thicker at the heels than at the toes. Curiously enough
the human nails are similar in their construction, the
finger nails being thickest in the centre, while the sub-
stance in the toe nails is thickest at the sides. Another
noteworthy fact is, that the horn of horses' hoofs is
generally thinner on the inside than on the outside
portions, a peculiarity which I shall have to refer to
further on, when pointing out the injury which rasping
inflicts. If the fibres composing the horn are closely
observed, it will be discovered that at the toe in each
hoof they are nearest to the perpendicular, a quality

ITS EXTERIOK. 2o

which gives them greater strength to resist the shock
which the foot meets each time it is placed upon the
ground, whether the horse is galloping at full speed, or
drawing a heavy weight at a slow pace. Internally the
horn is a laminated substance, but outwardly, as it con-
tinues towards the quarters, it turns more and more
aslant, by which, especially in the fore feet where it is
thinnest, it obtains a still greater power of yielding to
the shock, and power of expansion, when the weight of
the horse descending upon the frog causes that to press
upwards and outwards at each step the animal takes.

At the extremity of each heel the crust is found to turn
inwards and forwards towards the point of the frog, and
in this new form and duplicate position it is termed
"the bars." The usual name for these among' the old
school of farriers is " the binders," from an erroneous idea
that they bind or hold the heels together, thus preventing
expansion. To obviate this, ignorant individuals cut the
bars away, in order, as they fondly imagine, to open the
heels. Of course this causes the heels to close, and so
insures the very contraction that their removal is in-
tended to remedy. Besides, it ought to be plain to every
one that this reduplication of the crust must be of service,
as it secures a double bearing to the shoe at the heels,
and thus prevents any undue pressure upon "the seat of
corn." An-ain, this laminated substance at the heels, on
its return as bars, although its positions are nearly
horizontal, yet lie edgeways, and consequently are well
adapted to bear pressure on their edge, as well as to
permit of lateral expansion, an effect that continues to

26 THE FOOT OF THE HOKSE :

the extremity of the bars. Therefore whatever descrip-
tion of shoe is used, if parts that are essential to the
natural economy of the foot be not preserved, or if por-
tions that are useless be allowed to remain, all shoeing
must prove a failure ; not so much probably from any
fault in the shape of the shoe, but from the objectionable
manner in which the foot has been prepared to receive
it. Nature having provided the protections I have men-
tioned, any artificial covering, further than to that part
which is liable to fracture, is certainly not only un-
necessary but highly injurious, as the mutilation of the
horn in any way only tends to take away friction and
moisture, the two greatest preventatives of contraction.

In figure B, Plate II., I give a drawing of the horn
box which covers the horse's foot, and it will be seen
from this, that the crust and sole, and frog and bars,
which are respectively smooth, concave, and convex, on
their outsides, are laminated, convex, and concave within.
The crust, with its mushroom-like interior surface, is a
most noticeable structure ; and when we are aware of the
importance of these ridges, their peculiar appearance
becomes still more interesting. A reference to Plate I.,
shows a section of the foot, and the reader will at once
easily understand that the laminae to be seen there
covering the coffin bone, corresponds Avith, and com-
pletely fits into, the ridges in the interior of the crust at
every step the horse makes. Being, as has been stated
already, perfectly elastic, these sensitive laminae at each
movement of the horse fill up or recede from the in-
sensitive horny laminae in the interior of the hoof ; so,

ITS EXTEEIOR. 27

opening and closing at each step, tliey act as elastic
springs, assisting to prevent concussion each time the
foot comes to the ground, as well as helping to sustain
the weight of the animal.

As every portion of the foot acts together in unison,
it will be easily understood how necessary it is that the
different portions should be allowed to remain unmuti-
lated. I have explained how, when the foot leaves the
ground, the laminated springs relax hold of their horny
bed, and resume it again as the foot returns to the earth.
And it is here that the uncut frog becomes of service, for
although itself insensible to pain or feeling, it has the
power, to a slight degree, of conveying sensation to the
sensitive parts it protects. This is one reason why it is
so important that the frog should touch the ground at
every step, for when it is cut away or lifted out of action
by the shoe, the horse is entirely unconscious of contact
with the ground until the wall of the foot receives the
blow through the shoe. When the frog is as near, if not
Hearer to the ground than the iron, the nervous sensation
it conveys causes the muscles of the leg and the laminae
of the foot to be prepared for each concussion as it comes.
On the other hand, when the frog is not permitted to act
as nature intends it to do, the animal must either keep
the muscles of the leg and foot in a state of tension much
longer than is necessary, or be liable to slip or stumble,
through their being relaxed at the moment when the foot
reaches the ground ; either way being hurtful to the
horse.

The frog, in reality, is only a continuation of th4^

.H

^< ^

28 THE FOOT OF THE HORSE :

coronet, and from its wedge-like form, and nearly total
insensibility to feeling, proves that it is meant to take a
bearing upon the ground where it is useful to the animal
either in action or in repose. In the former it acts as a
buffer, preventing concussion, while its hold upon the
smoothest surfaces prevents slipping. In the latter case
it becomes a support and a rest, as the horse whose frogs
reach the ground can ease the weight of his body from
any leg on to the other three, by allowing the pressure
to increase or diminish upon the different cushions on
which he is standing. Again, when a horse walks upon
his frog, it, by his weight, is pressed into the ground,
pushing itself as it were into the inequalities it may
happen to come in contact witli ; and thus the animal
gains a stronger adherence to tlie road he is travelling
over,xombined with a greater feeling of security wherever
he goes, than he could otherwise possess.

In structure this portion of the foot may be compared
to horse-hair in the compressed state as used for stuffing
sofas, and if we can imagine this hair to be mixed witll
a fatty adhesive substance, we shall form a fair idea
what the tough elastic frog resembles when under
microscopic inspection. Though thicker than the parts
from which it proceeds, the frog is less compact in its
texture, and therefore being more elastic it expands and
contracts whenever it touches or leaves the ground.
The more, therefore, we investigate the form and particular
functions of the frog, the more must we feel convinced
that its true use is to prevent the horse from slipping,
the heels from contractinc:, the legs from the evil effects

ITS EXTERIOR. 29

from concussion, as well as to serve as an elastic spring
for the horse when in motion, and a point cVapinti for
him when he is at rest.

The sole of the foot, unlike the frog, recedes from the
ground ; proof sufficient, from its semi-vaulted shape,
that it is not meant by nature to sustain much of the
horse's weight. Firmly attached to the skin which
covers the under surface of the foot-bone, it is joined to
the hoof's inside edge by the mere force of cohesion.
Its uses, which its construction points to, are principally
to protect the sensitive sole which it covers, and by its
concavity to act in soft ground like a break, when the
lamint-e lengthening beneath the weight of the animal,
causes the sole to descend, by which means the force of
concussion is decreased. Over its surface there is no
external glazy-gluey-layer to preserve its moisture, as in
the crust ; while its fibres, stretched like strings, layer
over layer, are as unlike the woolly oily substance of
the frog as the horn of the crust .differs from the bones
which it covers. In one respect the sole resembles the
frog, which is, that the outer layer of fibres in each be-
comes dead and falls off, in flakes, the growth down-
wards of the new horn pushing off the old in turn.
There is little difficulty in perceiving how the sole
cannot bear so much pressure upon it as the frog, for it
is only above the sole that the foot-bones are placed ; and
as between them and the horn beneath the sensitive sole
lies, any pressure must bruise and injure the tender
flesh between these two hard substances. Its concavity,
very slight at its junction with the crust, gradually

30 THE FOOT OF THE HORSE :

increases as it advances towards the centre of the foot,
a form of construction which admits of the web of the
shoe resting a little upon the sole, without any fear of
injury. This fact most farriers, however, will not per-
ceive, and jumping to the opposite extreme, pare away
the important thickness of the sole in order that the
shoe may not touch it ; then when sand^ etc., works in
between iron and thin horn, they are astonished to find
the horse so shod go lame, to relieve which they apply
remedies equally if not more injurious.

From the foregoing the reader will learn that a
horse may be said to have a foot half cloven, that is to
say, a foot having the power of expansion at the clefts
of the heel, but confined at the toe. Defended in front
and sides by the crust, and underneath by the frog, sole,
and bars, the horse's foot in its natural state, and shod
upon natural common sense principles, is nearly invul-
nerable. Where the foot is weakest, namely at the heels,
the thick, tough, and elastic frog supplies the necessary
support, acting as a cushion for the weight above to rest
upon when the front tendons have been overworked. Then,
as the sole is not meant tq bear much pressure, the
crust or wall, from its vertical position, strength, and
substance, is not only the great bearing portion, but the
only part which will allow nails being driven into it in
a vertical direction. Possessing the last quality, it is
therefore upon the crust that any protection or armour
for the foot must be fixed, as upon the wall and the frog
the horse's weight may be said exclusively to fall ; and
while the former, from its hard brittle nature needs

ITS EXTERIOR, 31

something to guard it from fracture or too rapid wear,
the latter, if unmutilated, from its toughness and
elasticity, and capability of rapid reproduction, requires
no artificial defence whatever.

This being the case, one would naturally suppose
that to insure good shoeing all that was requisite would
be to guard the part of the foot that wanted protection.
Common sense dictates which portion this should be,
and if governed by correct principles, there is attached to
the crust a light iron shoe of the exact shape of the horn,
and the eighth of an inch wider. I am confident it would
be found to answer, providing the shoe was perfectly
level, and the foot had been prepared properly. The
shoe must not be too narrow, for it will break or twist
unless of a certain width, and if too wdde it will not only
be too heavy and probably press upon the sole, but will
have no hold upon the convex stones over which it has
to journey. As already mentioned, I -believe that the
sole at its junction witli the crust may and ought to
carry some portion of the weight, but that portion is
small and should not be exceeded.

Weight is also a most important consideration, which
I have previously noticed, for the iron shoe put on any
horse or pony should never exceed certain limits in
length, width, or thickness, lest the artificial covering, by
its superior weight and hardness, break and wear away
the natural protection it is meant to preserve, and so the
remedy prove worse than the disease.

Unfortunately, farriers cannot be persuaded to look
at the subject in this light. Pretending, seemingly, to

32 THE FOOT OF THE HOESE :

prefer rather " to Lear those ills they have, than fly to
others that tliey know not of," they decline to change
the system M'hich suited so well their sires and grand-
sires before them. Eesembling the farmer who weighed
and sold his butter by a stone weighing considerably
over a pound, simply because his father had used the
stone for the same purpose, and made money by doing
so, he refused to change the weight, as it would never
answer, he said, for him to wish to appear wiser than his
father. The farriers offer precisely similar reasons for
continuing their highly objectionable method of shoeing,
as they refuse also to be wiser than their ancestors.
And such is the constitution of things, that some kinds
of businesses are carried on, and occasionally with
success, upon quite erroneous principles. It is not so
many years back since horses in Ireland were harnessed
by their tails, and it took ages to convince the people
there that it would probably be more convenient for the
animals, and better for the owners, if the former were
allowed to draw with their shoulders.

The reader must bear in mind that the hoof, being a
continuation of the skin towards the extremities, is con-
tinually growing downwards from its roots at the coronet,
and it is this which replaces any damage the horn
suffers from wear or from accidents, and as nothing
intervenes between the coffin-bone and the horn but the
laminre, the adhesion between these two parts is a very
close one. I refer here to that portion of the foot from
the front to the quarters, to which the points of the
cofiQu-bone reach ; but as from there to the heels is

ITS EXTERIOR. 33

principally composed of cartilaginous substance, it will be
readily admitted that this is the part which will most
easily allow of either contraction or expansion. Then
as the horn of the crust, and especially of that of the
fore feet, narrows in width and thins off gradually
towards the heels, until it is lost in the skin of the coro-
nary back band, this portion of the hoof is exceptionally
weak, and but for the protection which even a wasted
frog affords, the heels would be always in danger. The
whole substance of the hoof, especially the sole and frog
is of an open porous nature, which not only draws in air
and moisture eagerly from without, but sends forth from
within a continuous insensible perspiration. This per-
spiration can be easily observed however, if, when the
frog is newly pared, the foot is held in the sunshine,
when it shows like dew upon the fresh cut surface.
Nature having therefore given such guards as the crust,
frog, sole, and bars, to the sensitive interior parts of the
foot, it seems incomprehensible that men should be found
ready and willing not only to cut away these important
parts, but actually to declare that what they do, so far
from being an injury, is actually a benefit to the animal.
Blinded by ignorance and prejudice they cannot or will
not see that when tlie frog is permitted to remain sound
and whole, the more it comes in contact with either
gravel stones or even sharp flints, the firmer, tougher,
and more healthy it becoines ; while, on "the contrary,
when cut with a sharp instrument, allowing the
moisture which is its life to escape, it dries up, hardens,
cracks, and becomes highly susceptible to every impres-

D

34 THE FOOT OF THE HOKSE : ITS EXTERIOR.

sion, as well as diseased ; in fact anything but a cushion
to the inner sensitive parts of the foot,

A horse in health should have a term of existence
from thirty-five to forty years. All authorities now ad-
mit that animals should live five times as long as it
takes them to reach maturity, A dog, which is at its full
growth when between two or three years old, is very
aged at twelve years. Horses do not, unless their
growth is forced, reach their full prime until they are
seven or eight years old, which by the same law leaves
them to live some thirty years longer. "When these
facts are kept in mind, together with these other facts
that three-fourths of our horses die or are destroyed under
tw^elve years old, that horses are termed aged at six, old
at ten, very old when double that number of years, and
that few of them but are laid up from work a dozen times
every year from lameness caused by bad shoeing, the
viciousness of a system which entails such misery and
destruction of life cannot surely be too strongly com-
mented upon. Bad shoeing has affected owners
pecuniarily to a far greater degree than ever "bishoping"
did; yet, while the one is a crime, severely punishable by
law, the other is regarded as a matter of so little eon-
sequence as almost to be considered an impertinence to
mention ; but it is really the worse offence of the two
to owners, whether it is looked at from a humane or a
monetary point of view.

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT. 35

CHAPTEE 11.

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

In the human frame the gums are the least sensitive
parts, and under the finger and toe nails the most sensi-
tive parts of the whole body. It is precisely the same
with the horse, as beneath the horn the parts there are
so susceptible of pain, that if a nail only presses upon
the lamiuce in the interior, the animal becomes lame
at once. The excessive pain which most of us have
felt, at one time or another of our lives, through having
a splinter of wood run under a finger nail, will enable
any one to form some conception of what a horse suffers
when he is pricked by an incompetent or drunken
farrier. Like ourselves, the animal suffers little, com-
paratively, when the foreign body is at once extracted,
and water applied plentifully to the wound ; but if
allowed to remain even for a single day, it soon festers,
and, from being only a slight wound, rapidly becomes
a serious sore.

The interior portions of the foot, therefore, are en-
dowed with great sensibility, while, to such a degree of
nicety is it adapted to the cavity in the hoof, that it
completely fills it without suffering in the least degree
from pressure. By this every person should perceive

36 THE INTERIOK PARTS OF THE FOOT.

tliat whatever tends to decrease the size of the horn box,
must imperil the parts which it covers. The internal
portions are composed of bones, cartilages, ligaments,
muscles, tendons, blood-vessels, and nerves, which, by
an insensible but gradual process of natural development,
are continually undergoing changes. The sensitive frog
slowly but surely becomes the insensitive one, while a
similar transformation is going on in a similar manner
in all the other parts of the foot. The process of this,
in the aggregate, is truly a wonderful one, as, for instance,
the horn of the sole which does not touch the ground,
when each portion has done its duty, falls off in flakes,
while the frog wears off the used parts, when permitted,
by friction with the ground ; conditions which all tend
to keep the foot sound and healthy.

The bones of the foot are known as the coffin-bone,
the navicular bone, and the lower pastern bone. The
first is so named from beiug, as it were, huricd in the
foot, and is the principal bone in the hoof, which in
shape it somewhat resembles, being of a vaulted form
from the ground, broad in front, and tapering gradually
towards the heels. Strongest and thickest at the upper
part, wliere a hollow cavity in it, together with a portion
of the navicular bone, forms a socket for the bottom part
of the lower pastern bone to rest on, the coffin-bone
being kept free from pressure, is of material consequence
to the whole limb. The concave and arched under sur-
face of this bone allows the blood to pass unimpeded
through the numerous veins below it, and being of an
open porous nature, it receives a greater number of veins

THE INTEPJOK PAr.TS OF THE FOOT. 37

and arteries than any other bone of its size in the whole
body. The very concavity in the shape of the under
portion of the coffin-bone is an advantage, as it allows
whatever weight descends upon it to fall upon the outer
edge or strongest part, besides helping to obviate any
ill effects from concussion in other parts, through
jumping, etc.

The small bone behind, generally known now as " the
navicular," is likewise thickest at the middle, with sharp
pointed extremities, and is of a harder and more compact
nature than the coffin-bone, upon which, however, it is
partly supported. If the reader refers to Plate I., which
shows a section of a horse's fore foot and fetlock, he will
have no difficulty in discovering how the three foot bones
are situated ; and if he looks closer he must observe
the back sinew {fiexor jpcrforans tendon) passing under
the navicular bone like a roller. I wish this to be
particularly noticed, as, when I come to speak of " navi-
cular disease," its prevention or probable cure will be
more readily understood. The back sinew is enclosed
in a sheath, and this being shown open in the plate, the
tendon, or tendons rather, which united under the one
membrane, can be seen to insert themselves into the
back and beneath the lower part of the coffin-bone, the
one entering and the other covering the concave or
arched under surface, until they eventually become the
fleshy sole, which, as I have already remarked, in turn
becomes the horny and outward sole. The extensor
tendon, or front sinew, passes down the fore part of the
leg into the foot, under the annular or circular ligament.

38 THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

and ultimately inserts itself into the front part of the
coffin-bone. It is from the front sinew that the laminae
spring, which surround the coffin-bone on all sides, and
by fitting in to the horny laminae of the crust, become
by their muscular action of so much importance in all
movements of the horse. I may also remark, as the
action of the back sinew is to lift the foot upward and
backward, while the front sinew controls the forward
motion of the limb, it follows that flexion or bending of
the leg must always precede extension ; the first being
necessary to lift the foot from the ground, without which
it of course could not be advanced. Movement being
therefore entirely due to the action of the back sinew in
each leg, the importance of the flexor ^erforans tendon
will be at once recognised.

It will be seen from Plate I. that the blood-vessels
within the hoof are very numerous, more particularly
two large arteries which run along the outside of the
coffin-bone. These, from their exposed situations, are
very liable to compression, and therefore injury, from
any contraction of the hoof Accompanying the blood-
vessels are nerves which, dispersing throughout the foot,
secure a tenderness to the sensitive portions of the foot,
that enables the horse to tell, even through the thick
horn, whether the ground he passes over is strong enough
to carry his weight. Hence the carefulness with which
we find horses approach wooden bridges or other structures
which vibrate under their feet ; and when this is all thought
of, the sin and folly of cutting away any portion of their
organs of touch must be more and more apparent. A

THE INTEEIOE PAKTS OF THE FOOT. 39

reference to Plate I. will also inform the reader that the
bottom of the internal foot is formed by the sensitive
frog and sole, the former resembling in shape the horny
frog that covers it, the concavities of the one nicely fit-
ting the convexities of the other, all being united to the
outer portion by two elastic cartilages, which in a great
measure are protected by the heels and quarters of the
crust that cover them. To realise some of the advantages
which frog-j)ressure obtains for the horse that is shod on
natural common sense principles, one has only to imagine
the foot coming to the ground at each step. Then every
time the horny frog touches the ground and receives the
pressure of the horse's weight, the sensitive frog above is
forced upwards and outwards, causing an expansion of
the heels, as well as counteracting the concussion of the
blow. It will therefore be seen that however much the
foot may be predisposed to contraction from over-dryness
of the horn, contraction cannot well take place with such
a neutralising agency continually at work to prevent it.
The gradations from the extreme sensitiveness of the in-
terior parts to the utmost callousness of the exterior
parts, are so slight, that it would be impossible to describe
properly where the one terminates and the other begins.
Of this, however, we may be certain, that the extent of
the latter Avill depend much upon the thickness of the
horn covering by which the foot is encased. If the crust
is thinned by rasping, the sole or frog by paring, then
the sensitiveness of the whole foot must be augmented,
while, on the other hand, if those parts are not unnecessarily
interfered with, the callousness is proportionably secured.

40 THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

I cannot too often impress upon the reader the necessity
of keeping these facts continually in his mind, as well
as, that whatever injury by contraction, corns, thrush, or
sand-cracks, the horse's foot may suffer from, the remedy
must be sought for more often internally than externally.
Water being the natural appliance, will cause the horn
of the hoof to grow faster by the moisture reaching the
inner parts, but it is quite an erroneous idea to suppose
that the application of tar or grease would have a
similarly beneficial effect. What would our opinion be
of a gardener who applied manure to the dead leaves
instead of to the roots of a plant, in order to renew its
growth ? Would we not be justified in concluding that
he knew nothing at all about his business ? Yet this
is just what many sensible people do to their horses' feet.
They apply tar and other unguents to the hoofs, so as to
cause a more healthy growth of horn, evidently losing
sight of the fact, that, as the insensible sole derives its
existence from the sensible sole above it, and the crust
or wall, being in like manner the production of the
coronary band, and of the sensitive laminae within,
neither the sole nor the crust could be beneficially
affected by any applications to the bad horn outside.
Why we should term the elastic cushion of the horse's
foot a frog is one of those eccentricities of our language
difficult — even upon the supposition that it is a cor-
ruption of /rush, i.e., the fourcJie of the French — to
account for. The German equivalent is gahel, not frosh,
their bona fide "jumping frog." If the term is a corrup-
tion of the French /rush, we are indebted to the same

THE INTEKIOE PARTS OF THE FOOT. 41

word for thrush, a designation for a particular form of
running sore that discliarges from the frog.

Having endeavoured to describe the necessity that
exists for obtaining frog pressure, I will now try to
represent the sadly hurtful results which follow its
mutilation.

In preparing the foot for the shoe, the blacksmith
ought only to cut away as much of the crust as has
grown from the last time the horse was shod, for the iron
rim preventing the wear of horn here, if it was not
reduced it would soon get so high as to inconvenience if
not lame the animal. But the farrier not only lowers
the crust with his knife, he also carves at the frog, and
scoops out the sole, until the horn thereon from being a
thick, elastic, insensitive substance, has become thin,
inelastic, and so susceptible, that if the animal treads on
a stone he is seriously and often permanently injured.
This method of treatment raises the frog completely from
its sphere of action, and so long as it remains in this
position the heels are deprived of that pressure which
nature has so wisely provided them with, in order to
keep the crust in a state of expansion and the whole
foot healthy. The consequence of the evil habit of paring
away the horn protection beneath can be easily imagined,
for the sole being cut away until it springs or bends
beneath the pressure of the farrier's thumb, it follows
whenever the animal treads upon any thing harder — and
even a blacksmith's thumb is not so hard as a pebble
or piece of granite — the poor creature " falls suddenly
lame," or drops to the ground as if "he had been shot,''

42 THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

— phrases, unfortunately, too well understood to need
explanation. This is only one of the miseries which
the horse has to contend against from iij^norant and
prejudiced workmen. By the bars being cut away, with
the erroneous idea that the heels will have more room to
expand or open, quite the contrary effect invariably
ensues — the heels contract. Then the frog, that large
elastic pad, intended by nature for the horse to rest on
when not in action, and as a spring or fulcrum when in
motion, is ruthlessly sliced away, until the sensitive parts
are exposed ; and when this has all been achieved, high
heel calks are attached to the shoes of the hind feet, and
leather soles to those in front, to keep the now tender
frog from injury. It appears surprising that many
farriers should fail to see all this, as well as that the
pressure from the horse's weight upon a padless foot,
combined with the resistance supplied by the outer edges
of wide iron shoes, forces the heels together, when the
whole foot begins to contract, and, if persevered in, per-
manent lameness follows as a result. But even tliis is
not half the mischief which ensues from such treatment,
as it is well known now that navicular disease, ringbone,
corns, thrush, and greasy heels, are the common conse-
quences of such insane treatment. In another cliapter
I will give full details as to how these mischiefs are
gradually nurtured and developed, and at the same time
will show how opposite treatment has an opposite and
directly healthy and beneficial effect. At present I will
simply relate what the ordinary farrier does in all cases
with the feet, which his mismanagement — to use the
mildest term — has made tender.

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT. 43

When the sole has been pared thin, the horse becomes
naturally afraid to put his foot upon the ground, so the
blacksmith then supplies what he is pleased to term
" cover." This cover, a wide w^ebbed shoe, " nicely dished
out" is a wonderful looking affair, very suggestive of a
broken frying pan, but known to farriers as "tlie box-seated
shoe," and regarded by the trade as an infallible remedy
for tender feet. However, as might be exj)ected from the
shape and weight of the article, it only increases the evil.
This is especially to be seen in drop-soles or pumice feet,
the result in ninety-nine cases in a hundred of close
paring, when ignorance, blindly ignoring common sense,
proceeds to pare the horn of the sole still thinner, while
the shoe put on becoming more and more box shaped,
the whole foot eventually slips down out of the hoof, and
the horse is irrevocably ruined. Common sense clearly
shows, when the sole of the foot becomes convex instead
of concave, that the sole must be too weak, as it cannot
bear the pressure from above ; and who but a lunatic,
most people will inquire, would ever attempt to lessen
the thickness in order to gain additional strength ? yet
that is exactly what some of our practical farriers pro-
ceed to do with feet of this description.

I will add but little more, at this part of my treatise, of
the cruelty, I may say sinfulness, of treating horses in so
truly barbarous a manner. All cruelty generally origin-
ates from some paltry contemptible source, and the
cruelty in many cases, of shoeing horses with shoes far
too heavy for them to carry, is due often to the saving
of a paltry sixpence monthly per horse for shoeing. In

44 THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT.

contracts tliis is notoriously the case, the farrier over-
loading the horse's feet with iron, so that the shoes may-
last longer, he being quite careless as to the injury the
poor animal receives from the inhuman treatment ;
treatment, as I have shown, there is not the least neces-
sity for.

If there be no need, then, for such heavy shoes, and
no benefit to be derived beyond the paltry saving in the
cost of putting them on, surely owners ought no longer to
allow their valuable animals to be thus sacrificed. The
progress of disease in the foot is so insidious, and the
development of lameness so gradual, that, when combined
with the natural courageous fortitude of the generous
animal, the injury is often not discovered until it is too
late for remedy. The noble beast, bearing pain day after
day, without flinching, for perhaps months, having to
succumb at last, the owner is dumfounded when he learns
that his horse is incurably lame. Everything is blamed,
usually, but the true one, namely the shoeing. It is said
to be rheumatism, a sprain, shoulder lameness, etc. etc.,
and then the faithful animal, through no fault of its own,
is either ordered to be destroyed, or reserved for a worse
fate, namely, the shafts of a " fourwheeler."

In May 1869, Mr. Greaves, a florist in Bayswater,
showed me a horse of his which had suffered so much
from drop-sole and thrush in the fore feet that he thought
he would have to get rid of it. Happening to hear how
injurious it was to the hoof to rasp, cut, and pare it, he
got his farrier to shoe his horse on a more sensible system,
and with the most gratifying results. By leaving alone

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE FOOT. 4o

the frog, sole, and bars, the drop-sole began to disappear
and the thrush to grow out, and in less than three months
]\Ir. Greaves informed me the horse was as well as ever
it had been.

46 THE TRESENT METHOD OF PREPARING

CHAPTEK III.

THE PRESENT METHOD OF PREPARING THE HORSE'S FOOT
FOR SHOEING.

Farriers are divided into Uxo classes of workmen — viz.
firemen and doormen ; the duty of the former being to
fit the shoes to the horse's feet, and that of the latter not
only to prepare the foot for receiving the shoe, but also
to nail it on after it has been fitted. From this it will
be seen that usually it takes two men to shoe a horse,
although one fireman is supposed to fit out enough shoes
to keep two doormen at work. I may remark here, how-
ever, that though it is supposed "they manage most
things better in France," yet, as it takes three men there
to make and put on a shoe, the saying quoted above
may be considered not to apply to farriery, which must
be one of the exceptions that, it is said, go to prove all
rules. Like us, the French have their fireman and door-
man, but they have in addition another man, whose duty
is, by aid of strap and strength to hold up the horse's
foot while the doorman operates upon it, nailing on the
shoe in a similar style that a carpenter would, had he
to fasten one on to a door. This method, to Englishmen,
has a clumsy look, besides involving the services of an
extra man, who even then must stand greatly in the

THE HOKSE'S foot FOR SHOEING. 47

other's way. As the buttress is still used abroad, and
every evil there practised that we are accustomed to
here, it is not desirable to say any more about French
horse-shoeing.

Before going further into details, I trust that it may
not be considered out of place for me to refer to the
prices charged in London and elsewhere for putting on
shoes. In towns, as a rule, farriers are well paid for
their work ; but in country villages the prices given are
often perfectly ridiculous. For instance, in Cheshire and
Gloucestershire, two shillings and half-a-crown are com-
mon charges for shoeing a horse all round ; and when
the shoeing is contracted for by the year, as is done in
many cases, the charges are still less. Now low prices
mean heavy shoes and bad work, which bring forth
lameness as their fruit ; so, eventually, the farrier gains,
as these worthies will tell you plainly that the shoeing
never pays them, hut the doctoring does. A farrier near
Gloucester told me not long since, when I questioned
him on this subject, that "the doctoring paid always a
heap better than the shoeing." Whether it would not
be more to the owners' (not to say the horses') benefit to
pay more for shoeing and less for pliysic, is an interro-
gation I need scarcely put. In London, however, the
price is five shillings, which, in my opinion, is nearly as
much in excess of what it ought to be as two shillings
is under the fair price for such work.

Let us see what it costs in London to put on four
shoes, I mean what it costs the farrier. Two men make
60 horse-shoes for a day's work, and in the same time

48 THE PRESENT METHOD OF PREPAEING

are supposed to put on 32 shoes ; so, if ^ye consider that
two men in three days make the shoes for, and put them
on to, 16 horses, that will he an average approximation.
As the daily wages of these men would be 9s., the
labour employed in shoeing 16 horses would be £1 : 7s.,
and if to this we add 4|d. per shoe for the price of iron,
nails, etc. — £1 : 4s. in all — the matter assumes this form : —

Cost of shoeing 16 horses at 5s. each £4 0 0
Prime cost to the farrier 2 11 0

Profit £1 9 0

rather too much, in my opinion, either for owners of
horses to pay or farriers to charge. A fair price for all
parties would be 4s. or 4s. 6d. per horse, in large towns,
for shoeing, which would leave a profit of from 20 to 25
per cent on the outlay, — enough to satisfy any respect-
able tradesman. In the country, where labour and every-
thing else is proportionally cheaper, from 3s. to 3s. 6d.
per set would be ample payment ; but no horse ought
to be shod for less.

When a horse is taken to the forge to be shod, the
first act the farrier does is to take up the near fore foot
between his legs, and then, with the assistauce of the
shoeing-hammer and buffer, to knock off the clenches
from the nails that hold on the old shoe. This is effected
by a smart blow of the hammer on the back of the chisel-
like point of the buffer, which, thus cutting off each
clench in succession, leaves the shoe at last only fastened
to the foot by a few stubs. After this the M'orkman, by
means of his pincers, wrenches off the shoe and nails by

THE horse's foot FOR SHOEING. 49

a couple of strong twists, a proceeding, however, seldom
performed without inflicting some injury to the crust,
more or less serious in results. In the next operation
the rasp is brought into play, being applied lightly over

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

the sole and round the edge of the crust, in order to re-
move the ragged pieces of horn or injured parts of the
wall, — the usual upshot of pulling off the shoe in such
a manner.

Under the erroneous impression that if the sole was
allowed to remain unpared it would become so hard as
to press injuriously upon the sensitive parts that it
covers, the farrier removes it with his drawing-knife
until the horn is so thin that it bends — or, in technical
language, springs — beneath the pressure of his thumb.
The bars are next cut away, and as these were the stay
of the back part of the foot, the consequence is that the
heels narrow and the foot begins to contract. The frog
now comes to be performed upon, when, under the vigor-
ous application of the knife, this mainstay of the foot
soon becomes but a wretched caricature of its former self.

E

50 THE PEESENT METHOD OF PREPAEING

Eesembling, when in a healthy state, Fig. 1, by cutting it
is speedily dwarfed down to the resemblance of Fig. 2 ;
when the whole assumes the appearance of what certain
grooms and farriers are pleased to term " a dean foot!'

By the time the doorman has taken the shoe off, the
fireman has selected one about the required size from
the stock of ready-made shoes hanging on the wall round
him, and, by looking at the old shoe, proceeds to convert
the other into as close a resemblance of the one taken
off as possible. Before iron can be altered in shape it
has to be heated, and therefore the new shoe is placed
in the fire until it has attained a proper degree of heat,
when it is taken out with the tongs and placed upon
the anvil. Usually the first thing done now is to raise
a clip at the toe, to prevent the shoe slipping backwards
when it is attached to the foot. Half-a-dozen blows
with the turning-hammer are sufficient to rise and finish
the clip ; and when the shoe is altered to the size re-
quired, by being made wider or narrower on the horn of
the anvil, or shorter or longer by cutting off or drawing
out the heels, and being made perfectly level, it is in
this hot state taken on the point of a pritchel to be
fitted.

The foot, which by this time has been got ready by
the doorman in the manner described, is now in turn
picked up by the fireman, who, placing the hot shoe on
the horn, proceeds to fit it by pressing it into the foot
until the nearly red-hot iron has burned itself into a
level foundation. When the smoke permits him to see
the foot, the only thing the farrier looks to is, that the

THE HOESE'S foot FOR SHOEING. 51

shoe fits round the inside quarter closely, and the crust
generally. Having with difficulty satisfied himself on
these points, and cut away the parts of the blistered
horn that had boiled up at the sides of the shoe from
the heat, the foot is dropped, and the shoe taken back
to have the nail-holes opened. This is done by what is
styled technically back-pritchelling, or opening the nail-
holes from the inner or foot surface of the shoe. This
is far from being a commendable practice, as it not only
leaves a jagged sharp piece of iron in the middle of the
nail-hole, but it makes the hole of a false and objection-
able shape. This is the form \/ that a section of a nail-
hole should be, and here is the shape )( that back-
pritchelling makes it. The disadvantages are evident,
as the nail head, in the first place, can only fit close about
half-way through the shoe, for the hole, after a certain
point, becomes wider instead of narrower ; and secondly,
the sharp jagged edge here of the iron, together with
the play allowed to the nail, soon wears the latter out,
or weakens it to such a degree that it breaks easily. A
block of lead is all that is required to render back-prit-
chelling unnecessary.

When the holes have been opened, and the shoe
cooled and rasped round, it is turned over to the door-
man to nail on. While the fitting has been doing the
doorman has either been getting another foot ready, or
pointing nails ready for the next part, the attaching of
the shoe to the foot. Every farrier is supposed to point
his own nails, for those craftsmen have not only each a
peculiar method of making horse shoes, but likewise of

52 THE PRESENT METHOD OF PREPAEING

putting them on and pointing tlie nails. This is so
well known to be the case, that in a shop where there
are a dozen or more men employed, each could pick out
horses that any of the others had shod ; and it is quite
a common occurrence for a horse to he shod so long by
the same man that it goes lame eventually. When this
occurs, it is found, as a rule, that shifting the man effects
a cure — only for a time, however, — as it is ten to one
the new man will make the same mistake the old one
did. ]\Iany gentlemen will recognise the truth of my
statement here if they will hut call to mind how, on
many occasions, their horses had been lamed by one
farrier, and when they sent them to another to be shod,
an improvement would result from the change, in con-
sequence of the very reasons I have stated. They will
perhaps also remember how short-lived was the im-
provement, as the compression had not been removed —
only shifted. The horse or horses would again fall lame,
when the owner, driven from farrier to farrier, is at last
driven to despair, or into the belief of the theory promul-
gated by some, that contracted feet and their concomi-
tant evils, run in the breed of the horses so affected.
That this is rank nonsense any intelligent man who has
given the subject his attention will at once assert, for
it might, with as much semblance of truth, be said
that " wooden legs run in some families," as to assert
that the progeny of a mare whose feet are contracted
will be foaled with contracted feet also.

The shoe now being all ready for fastening on, the
foot is taken up in the usual manner again, the shoe

THE HOESE'S foot FOR SHOEING. 53

placed properly in its position, and the first nail driven
in. This is always one at the toe, and from this the
others are driven in in succession outward. When the
nails are driven home, each in turn has its point twisted
o£f with the pincers, and then " drawn up," i.e., ham-
mered as close to the foot as possible, when, by a
change of position, the farrier gets the foot resting
downwards on his knee, and after having rasped down
and under the clenches, and round the foot, the clenches
are fastened down into the horn. Another rasping all
over completes the operation. Each foot having been
similarly treated, the finishing touch is given by a tar
brush or greasy rag being passed round the hoof, when
the horse is supposed to have been skilfully and scien-
tifically shod.

Now, if we but consider the importance of the crust,
its thinness at best, its fibrous nature, and the enormous
weight it has almost alone to sustain, a more danger-
ous practice than rasping round the crust at all could
scarcely be attempted. I am well aware that many
horses have what is termed " stong feet," in which the
horn, being thicker than usual at the heels, causes the
feet to contract. In such cases the plan is to rasp the
hoof down, so as to enable it to expand a little ; and
as this does ease the feet for a short time, farriers take
to themselves great credit for the skill they bring to
bear on each case. A little reflection, however, might
have enabled them to foresee that the very rasping
would eventually but aggravate the evil, for horn, like
many other growing substances, always grows more

54 THE PRESENT METHOD OF PREPARING

rapidly by being cut or rasped. The consequence is,
that the hoof of a horse gets thicker after each rasping,
and of course the interior sensitive portions of the foot
inevitably become more and more compressed, until
nearly total lameness results. The fact is, that weak
feet might benefit by rasping, if the horses could be
spared from work for some time afterwards, until the
horn had grown again ; but for strong feet to be so
treated is the most ridiculous thing that can be well
imagined.

I have previously drawn attention to the structure
or wall of the foot, and pointed out how tenderly it
should be always treated ; the importance of the gluey,
superficial layer that covers the hoof; how this is
necessary to a healthy foot, and how its removal must
prove prejudicial. I likewise called attention to the
tube-like fibres of which the horn is composed ; how
they can only retain their strength and elasticity while
the outer covering is left untouched ; giving the reason,
that as each tube is filled with an oil-like substance, to
the presence of which the crust owes its toughness ; that
if this is allowed to escape, the chief virtues in the
natural horn escape also. Having stated all this and
more, it appears strange that, merely for the sake of
show, rasping, which not only removes the natural var-
nish, but, thinning the fibres, permits the nutritious
moisture inside of them to escape, should for one hour
be allowed in any civilised country. The mischief it
entails is not confined to brittleness — bad enough all
must allow ; but it is a law of nature that when any

THE horse's foot FOR SHOEING. 55

living structure is deprived of moisture, it becomes
heated, and horn, when heated, is a substance that
contracts.

Then, again, rasping under the clenches injures
them in the first place, and rasping over them after
they have been hammered down weakens them in the
second place, for, being rasped above and below, their
breaking is more likely to occur than otherwise, and we
all know when the clench breaks the nail becomes use-
less. I will now try to describe how a horse should be
shod.

56 THE PKOPOSED METHOD OF

CHAPTEE lY.

THE PKOPOSED METHOD OF PREPARING THE FOOT FOR
SHOEING, ETC.

If we notice the feet of young horses before they have
been shod, we find them for the most part wide and
open at the heels, and with a crust of sufficient thick-
ness and strength to admit of nails beincj driven with
safety near the heels even of the fore-feet. The shape
of such feet approaches nearly to a circle, but from the
animals having only been running in grass fields, where
the wear and tear was not equal to the growth of horn,
the crust or wall of the feet will be found, as a rule,
more luxuriant than the other parts, and consequently
they will be rather ragged looking, and perhaps a little
out of proportion. If, however, the feet of unshod young
horses, running in pasture lands, are looked to once
a-month, and the superabundant horn of the crusts
removed, so as to bring the frogs well on to the ground,
the feet will need no further attention then. Where the
ground is hard, stony, and rocky, this cure can be dis-
pensed with, as the animals will always take exercise
enough to keep their feet in good condition.

In what follows I make not the least pretence to
having discovered a new thing, for the system I advo-

PKEPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 57

cate has been described by nearly every veterinary
writer of importance for the last four centuries. Fiaschi,
an Italian, called attention four hundred years ago to
the same cruelties practised by farriers in those days, as
I do now ; and Osmer in 1766, Clark in 1799, Lord Pem-
broke in 1761, and many others more recently, have
been repeating the same story, with unfortunately too
little effect. I do not in this treatise aim to tell more
learnedly what more able men have related before : I
only strive to make what others have written more
clear to the multitude, for it is a subject that concerns
all, — not a few, I present myself, therefore, simply as
one in the crowd, who, sympathising sincerely with the
suffering horses are made to endure through ignorance
or misdirected ability, is eager to assist in breaking
down the wall of prejudice that at present surrounds
the shoeing of those noble animals ; and in this en-
deavour I do not at all despair of ultimate success.
Most persons will doubtless allow that the hoof or box
of horn, when of a circular form, and in a healthy state,
is entirely filled by the sensitive parts of the foot, and
that the hoof itself is composed of horny, callous fibres,
known by the names of crust, sole, bars, and frog ;
likewise that those parts differ in substance according
to the work each has to perform, as well as that all of
them depend upon one another for assistance in carrying
out each their separate functions.

As I have already stated, the great art in horse-
shoeing is how to preserve the foot always in the best
condition for work, and that the best means for doing

58 THE PROPOSED METHOD OF

SO is the preservation of the crust in its^ natural shape,
substance, and thickness.

The sole, concave externally, adheres by its edge to
the lower part of the crust, principally through pres-
sure, just in the same way as the end remains in a
barrel by the tightness of the hoops which gird it.
Similarly, if we were to plane the end of a barrel down
untU. it became as thin as pasteboard, the weight or
pressure of the liquor inside would cause the end to
bulge outwards, in the same way that a " pumice " or
" dropsole " appears to do in a horse's foot. Common
sense would surely suggest in the latter case that the
sole being thin, required strengthening ; but not so
with our farriers, who pare the weak sole still thinner
when they attempt to cope with this disease, ignoring
altogether the fact that the chief use of the sole is to
protect, by its thickness, the sensitive portions above it
from injury.

This is but one sample of the prevailing ignorance
that exists among farriers ; another is, their destroying
the bars by cutting them clean out of the foot. Now
the bars externally " a double purpose serve," as they
prevent in a considerable degree contraction of the
hoof; while, being a reduplication of the crust, they
form a strong support to the heels, just where the crust
is weakest. As already explained, the uses of the frog
are many ; for while it acts as a buffer in preventing
concussion, it also, by its wedge-like figure, obviates
slipping, and by its elasticity acts like a spring, easing
every movement of the foot when in action, while it

PREPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 59

serves as a cushion for tlie horse to rest upon when he
is standing stilL After backing, for instance, if the
frog is in a healthy, perfect state, the horse relaxes the
strain upon the back sinew, permitting his weight to
fall down upon this natural cushion to the foot, which,
thus compressed by the ground, will, india-rubber-like,
resist all forward motion. So, moving or at rest, the
horse, by the aid of the frog, can adjust the pressure upon
the wall of the foot by increasing or diminishing the
weight thrown upon the elastic pad beneath ; and it
would be impossible to imagine anything more perfect
than is this admirable provision for a firm foot-hold
possessed by the horse ; which, however, is too often
ruthlessly destroyed by ignorant persons, in order to
make room for their clumsy contrivances. In short, it
not only breaks the force of the blow when the foot
reaches the ground, but it assists it off again ; while,
either in pulling up or when at rest, the animal, by
allowing its weight to fall on its heels, attains its pur-
pose and secures ease by the same means.

The bars, as I have already observed, being simply a
continuation of the crust, extending from the heels to
the point of the frog, should be left in their entirety, as
they help by a mutual resistance from within to dilate
and prevent contraction at that part. The crust itself
is so hard, tough, and callous, that the touch of a feather,
or the blow from a hammer, upon a healthy foot, w^ould,
be equally unnoticed by the animal. When a horse is
made to move forward at a walk, we observe that the
movements of the fore and hind feet dijffer, the latter

60 THE PROPOSED METHOD OF

being as it were pushed forward surely and quietly,
while the former are thrown boldly out to the front,
with a kind of pawing motion, which, when they reach
the ground seem to clutch at it, as if to pull themselves
onwards. The hind feet therefore appear to push and
the fore feet to grasp, when the horse is in motion.
When about to move, the horse bends its fore leg at the
knee, causing the heels to leave the ground gradually,
and the foot to become more and more elevated, until the
toe, which is the last part that leaves the ground, is
lifted for the moment that the foot is suspended. The
base of the foot just as it is leaving the ground is nearly
perpendicular, a position it retains until the knee is
bent to its fullest extent. Then the foot is thrust for-
ward, describing in its progress nearly a semicircle, the
toe gradually rising and the heels falling, until the
ground is again reached, twio hy the heels first. The
hind foot leaves the ground at once, being lifted straight
up and then forward by the action of the front sinew,
and is placed down nearly flat, and just behind where
the fore foot had been.

From the foregoing it will be perceived that horses
ought not to wear their shoes out more in one part than
in another. Experience, however, tells us that they
mostly do, while common sense whispers that such a
defect must be attributed more to artificial than to
natural causes. And common sense is right, for if an
unequal bearing is thrown either upon the heels, the
toe, the inside or the outside of a shoe, that portion will
wear away much quicker than the other parts. Farriers,

PREPAKING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 61

when they find this to be the case, thicken the part
affected by putting in a bit of steel ; only to find the
undue wear continue as much as before, because the
friction by the thickening of the parts had been increased
and not diminished. This, however, is not discovered ;
the thickening goes on until the horse is completely
ruined. Now when an engineer finds any two parts of
his machinery unduly in contact, does he thicken those
parts to prevent their wearing out ? Decidedly not ; he
eases them, and thus gets rid of both the friction
and its cause together. Not that the shoe should be
thinned but the crust of the foot lowered gradually
to and from the part upon which the undue pressure
falls.

The two things to be attended to in horse-shoeing of
all kinds, good, bad, or indifferent, are to cut the hoof
and apply the shoe ; and three points to be considered,
namely — the previous preparation of the foot, the form
of the shoe, and the manner of fastening it on. Now I
have always considered that the preparer of the foot and
nailer on of the shoe is a man of more importance than
his fellow who receives higher wages for simply pre-
paring the shoe for the foot. But men, nearly from time
immemorial, have paid more attention to the shoe than
to the foot which it has to be fastened to. Therefore
we find that the man who can turn out the nicest-look-
ing piece of hammered iron, is considered worth}^ of
much hi-gher remuneration than he who may have made
the anatomy of the horse's foot his study — who knows

62 THE PROPOSED METHOD OF

to a hair's breadtli where to drive a nail, and how much
horn may with safety be removed from the hoof*

This error, this striving for appearance to the sacri-
fice of utility, has done more mischief to veterinary art
than aught else, for the best formed shoe ever turned
out of hands, if nailed to a foot improperly prepared,
would do far more injury than the most ill-shapen, ill-
made piece of circular iron could ever do, so long as it
was fastened carefully to a hoof that had been prepared
with judgment.

When a farrier has a horse to shoe, his first duty is
to examine all the four feet, one by one ; noting, in tvirn,
any peculiarity of each as regards signs of threatened
contraction, etc, in the feet, and the existence of undue
or unfair wear in the shoes, making up his mind what
steps to take so as to remedy the evils.

When he had done this, he would pick up his
shoeing hammer and buffer, and, taking hold of the
near fore-foot, and placing it between his knees, pro-
ceed, with the help of those tools, to knock off the
clenches. Then taking up his pincers, using them as a
lever, and the sole of the foot as a fulcrum, he should
gently loosen the shoe by laying hold of it at each heel
in succession, so as to draw it clear of the foot about
half-an-inch. If the shoe is then struck wdth the pincers
sharply, back to its place on the foot, the nail-heads will

* This was proved at a Cattle Show in the West of England,
held in June this year, when a boy of 15 took the first prize for
horse-shoeing, simply because he had turned out the nicest-look-
ing shoe.

PEEPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 63

remain clear, when each of them can be drawn out
separately. By this means the horn of the crust would
not be injured through the removal of the shoe, and if

Fig. 3.

A NEARLY PERFECT FOOT PREPARED FOR SHOEING.

AAA. — The sole of the foot.

BB. — The Bars.

CC. — The Frog.

D D. — The Seat of Corn.
E E E. — The part on which the shoe is placed.

a a. — The Crust or Wall of the foot.

h h. — The junction of the sole and crust.

necessary, the new nails could perhaps be driven into
the old nail-holes, without detriment either to the crust
or to their holding powers — points of more than ordinary
importance.

With an animal that had never been shod previously,
the lowering of the crust all round would be the princi-
pal matter for the farrier to attend to, his first object
undoubtedly being to get the frog upon the ground ; the

64

THE PKOPOSED METHOD OF

heels would require to be lowered if possible until that
end was fully attained. Then, shortening the toe suf-
ficiently, the horn at the quarters would next be removed
until there was a complete level bearing all round the
crust, — the seating to be no wider than the web of the

Fig. 4.

Fie. 5.

shoe. It would be requisite to remove as much of the
crust as would be replaced by the shoe, so that, when
the shoe was on, the frog would stiLl take a full bearing
upon the ground. If this could not be quite managed
in consequence of the foot being over fleshy, the shoe
could be drawn out gradually, or thinned, from the
quarters to the heels, until the constant pressure and
wear of the frog upon the ground had induced a fresher
and fuUer growth of the frog, when the tapering off of
the shoe heels could be discontinued. (See Fig. 5.)

I have given here two examples of what I refer to.
Figure 4 shows the hoof shod with a narrow webbed
shoe, and the heels lowered so as to admit of frog pres-
sure. Figure 5 is shod with a shoe drawn out thin at

PREPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 65

the heels, so as to induce frog pressure when the crust
could not be lowered any further.

If the width of the shoe had to he regulated by the
width of the crust, shoeing would be a still more diffi-
cult process for the farrier to become master of than it
is at present ; but fortunately such is not the case, as
the sole, from its concave form, is able at this part to
take a small portion of the weight, but that portion, as
already stated, is but small, and must not be exceeded.
No regular width can be given, as so much depends
upon the nature and shape of the foot ; a horse with a
flat or pumice foot, for instance, could not be shod with
so wide a webbed shoe as one whose foot was more
hollow. As a rule, however, the web should be about
one-third wider than the crust, the size of the horse
determining what the former may be, as a pony might
only require a shoe f of an inch wide in the web, while
a carthorse would need one three times as broad.

Having got the foot prepared ready for the shoe, the
fitting of the shoe follows, which, in my opinion, can
always be done when the iron is cold better than when
hot. I'll allow that heating the shoe is the quicker way,
but it is also the more barbarous one. The mischief
done at times by this custom was exemplified some years
ago in the case of Mr. Bevans' celebrated trotting horse,
" Hue-and-Cry," which lost both his fore feet through the
shoes having been fitted red hot ; and many animals, both
before and since, have suffered like misfortunes from the
same cause. The whole matter simply resolves itself
into a question of some ten minutes longer being re-

F

66 THE PROPOSED METHOD OF

quired to slioe a horse iu the humane way than in the
other, and surely that will not be allowed as a sufficient
reason for the continuance of such brutality as burning
an iron shoe into a foot undoubtedly is. I am aware
that farriers assert they can fit a shoe much closer to the
foot by burning it into its place, which is feasible enough,
and if this was managed with care there would not be
much harm done ; but the red hot shoe is oftener used
as a means to remove superfluous horn, than to bed the
shoe, and it is then the injury is accomplished.

When the crust has been sufficiently lowered with
the knife, and rasped round level, and the shoe is seen
to be perfectly level also, from having been tested on the
flat part of the anvil, a very little more trouble will en-
sure a fit quite as perfect as the burning-on process.
The farrier has only to rub some lamp black or red ochre
round the web of the shoe, and place it to its place on
the foot, holding it there for a second, and when he re-
moves it the parts where undue pressure fell will be
marked enough for him to judge how much has to be
rasped off, and as he will have both hands to hold the
shoe with, instead of having it balanced on the point of
the pritchel, like a muffin at the end of a toasting-fork,
he will in a short time be able to fit a shoe far better by
the new plan than the old. Hot shoes likewise shrivel
up the horn, causing it not only to shrink but to become
dry, hard, and brittle. When a horse is shod for the
first time, it may be requisite to keep the shoe warm, so
as to make any alterations, as there would not be the
old shoe for a guide j this, however, need only be the

PREPARING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 67

exception not the rule. The shoe being fitted correctly,
all that remains now to be done would be to nail it on.
If the nail-holes have been punched coarse, as it is
technically termed — i.e., in the centre of the web, they
ought also to be punched straight through, that is,
brought out in the centre of the web on the other side.
I ought perhaps to remark that what I state here has
reference to the shoes I recommend — viz. narrow
webbed ones. As a rule, however, farriers generally
punch the nail-holes much too near the outside, for fear
of pricking the horse, but with feet that a rasp never
touched, nor had been even mutilated in other respects,
there would be no such danger. I consider five or six
nails are sufficient to hold any shoe, if they are not
enough, twenty would not be too many. Although
there is most horn at the toes of the fore feet, nails
should never be put too far forward, as the leverage at
the toe breaks them, besides the chance of the nail-head
being worn off from the greater friction at that part. I
need scarcely add that nails should not be driven any
way near the heels of the fore feet either, more especially
the inside, the crust there being exceptionally thin.

I have purposely refrained until now from mentioning
heel-calks, considering them as I do the fruitful source
of much of the misery the horse has to endure. Cer-
tainly, next to the cutting away of the frog, the elevation
of the foot from the ground is the most prolific cause of
disease. Wearing heel-calks on a plain surface, a horse's
foot is always thrown forward on the toe, out of its pro-
per bearing, which is very liable to make the horse

68 THE PROPOSED JIETIIOD OF

stumble. There are only two arguments that their
most strenuous supporters can urge for heel-calks to
remain in use, and these are — they prevent a horse from
slipping when he is going down hill, and they assist
him to back. With regard to the first, I am of opinion
that it would be far more preferable for a horse to slip
a foot or two forward when going down hill, than, with
a heavy load behind him, to be pulled up suddenly,
through the calks getting caught in the pavement, and
thus strain the muscles of his back or the back sinews
in his legs ; and with respect to backing, there is noth-
ing can be more complete than the admirable provision
he has in the frog for such a purpose. When the foot
is in a perfect state the horse, after backing, relaxes the
strain on the back sinew, and lets the weight down on
the cushion of the foot, and so retains a far firmer hold
of the ground than any iron projection from the shoe
could give him. Nothing in art can be so perfect as
the natural firm foothold which the frog provides for the
horse ; and certain am I there is no more painful sight in
London for man to look at, than is to be seen daily in
Ludgate Hill, when horses, any way heavy laden, are
coming down it. The mute helpless appeal the poor
animals make from their eyes to us their masters, as
with legs rigid, and feet held close together, they allow
the weight behind to push them on — slipping, sliding all
the way, is far beyond power of mine to depict. I can
only raise my voice against such cruelty, and hope that
soon a different and more humane system of shoeing
will have become general, so that one may pass through

PREPAItlNG THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. G9

the streets of our large cities and see horses at work -
without being subjected to an agony of pain by wit-
nessing the concentrated misery these animals have at
present to undergo.

It is even worse in Lancashire and other parts of the
north of England, where horses are propped up, as it
were, on short stilts, having calks both at toes and heels.
Without taking into consideration the extra weight
which the horse has to carry, anyone can imagine how
insecure the animal must feel when walking on these
tripods. We can easily fancy how we should feel our-
selves if compelled always to walk about in pattens, and
yet I doubt whether we should feel more miserable
than those horses do who are treated so ; we should at
least kuow the reason, whether it was fashion or folly
that had ordered the affliction, a sort of satisfaction that
these poor creatures are debarred from ever finding out.
Some may think I express my feelings too strongly on
this subject, but it is ever before my eyes ; for I cannot
move out of doors without being obliged to witness horses,
on all sides of me, in suffering either from bearing reins
or bad shoeing ; and if the poor creatures, when in pain,
squalled as cats do, when hurt, legislation would soon
step in to stop the noise, by making it compulsory for
farriers to know their business properly, and the use of
bearing reins a crime punishable by law. The very day
I penned these lines — when going down Cannon Street
I saw a horse fall so suddenly that the pole of the
vehicle in rear passed through the back of the four
wheeler he was drawing. The poor animal never tripped,

70 THE PROPOSED METHOD OF

his legs flew from under him to the right, and he fell
upon his left side, the wheels of the cab only being
stopped by the horse's body. The number of tlie cab
was, I think, 9689, and the horse was shod with shoes
that had high-heel calks, which, as the pavement runs
cross-ways only, assisted the poor creature to fall. This
is no solitary instance ; on the very Friday previous,
when walking from Holborn Circus to Newman Street,
Oxford Street — about a mile, I saw no less than five
cab-horses down, all of them falling — as if they had been
shot dead — on their sides. The streets, after being
watered, or a slight shower having fallen, are as slippery
as if they were covered with soft soap, and horses with
high heel-calks and wide webbed shoes are quite help-
less upon the granite pavement. Those I saw fall could
not get up until rugs had been spread in front of them,
so that they could get a foothold and keep it ; they
would never have got up unless. Would they have
fallen at all had they been shod on humane and common
sense principles ? I think not. It appears strange that
there should be so many ridiculous and absurd methods
of shoeing, when a little reflection upon the structure
of a horse's foot, with the aid of common sense, would
surely suggest the proper one.

In concluding this chapter, I cannot do better than
quote the words of John Lawrence, who, seventy-seven
years ago, urged upon gentlemen the necessity of them-
selves acquiring the knowledge they are now content to
leave to their servants — far too important a trust I con-
sider to be confided to them. " There are some toils " (he

PREPAEING THE FOOT FOR SHOEING. 7l

writes) "to wliicli even the rich must submit. True
knowledge is not to be acquired, or the acquisition to be
enjoyed, by deputy : and if gentlemen and large pro-
prietors of horses are desirous to avoid the difficulties,
and dangers, and cruelties, perpetually resulting from
prejudice, ignorance, and knavery combined, they must
embrace the resolution of making themselves so far
masters of the subject as to be able to direct those
whom they employ."

72 ABOUT THE TOOLS FARRIERS USE.

CHAPTEE V.

ABOUT THE TOOLS FARRIERS USE.

Since the days of Tubal Cain down to the present hour
there has been but little improvement in the primitive
tools employed by the smith in his special industry.
Then, as now, doubtless a pair of bellows, an anvil, and
a hammer formed the furniture of a forge, and unques-
tionably then, as now, there was plenty of room for
improvement, not only in the few appliances but in the
workmen themselves.

It is not, however, within the scope of these observa-
tions to speak much of the past, their object being to
describe things as they are at present, and to hope for an
improvement of those matters in the future. Having
premised this much, I will now endeavour to give an
account of the different tools used in the making of
horse-shoes, and in fixing those shoes on the horses'
feet.

Iron, from its cheapness, ductility, and durability, has
been the substance used certainly for four hundred
years as the artificial protection to the hoof of the horse,
and this having to be fashioned to a certain shape and
thickness, a hammer, anvil-pincers, and a fire, are neces-
sary to convert the iron into the requisite form to cover

ABOUT THE TOOLS FAKEIERS USE. 73

the foot. There will be no necessity, however, for my
entering into the process gone through of making a shoe,
nor yet to describe a common bellows, an anvil, a sledge-
hammer, tongs, pincers, rasp, etc., as nearly everybody
connected with horses has in their time seen hundreds
of shoes made as well as put on. I will therefore confine
myself to giving a short description of each tool used,
and supply drawings of the more important ones, the
names of which will be found on Fig. 6.

The tools and appliances used by farriers are as
follows, viz. —

The anvil. The heel-cutter.

The vice. The toeing knife.

The sledge-hammer. The drawing knife.

The turning hammer. The searcher.

The shoeing hammer. The pincers.

The stamj). The buffer.

The pritchel. The rasp.

The bellows. The tongs.

The bench. The toolbox.
The water-trough.

If to these I add an apron, hone for sharpening the
knives, and the block for pointing the nails, I believe I
have named everything that a farrier needs in his way
of business. The anvil is used to beat out and turn the
shoe upon when in a hot state, this being done by two
men (or three) one using the sledge and the other the
turning hammer, the latter holding the hot iron all the
time with the tongs. When the shoe has been put
into shape, the stamp, a short-looking chisel with a
willow-rod fastened round it, is used to punch the nail-

74 ABOUT THE TOOLS FARRIEES USE.

holes. Sometimes a groove is first let in with a short,
wide chisel, this is termed fullering, but is thought by
some to weaken the shoe. After the stamp has been
used the pritchel is brought into play — which is only a
longer chisel with a point the size and shape of the
heads of the horse-nails. - In using this tool back-
pritchelling should be avoided, as it is apt to "neck
the nail." The pritchel should always be inserted from
the ground side, but this is seldom done, for, as in other
matters, farriers are not easily made to change their
ways, even when it is evident to themselves that their
method is radically wrong. The shoe is finished and
fitted out with the turning hammer, the side part of
which is used for raising a clip at the toe or sides of the
shoe. The vice is used to hold the shoe when it is
being filed up previous to its being put on, etc. The
water-trough is to cool the shoes in previous to being
nailed on, as well as to cool the tongs if they should get
too hot to hold through being used. The shoeing hammer
is to point the nails, and nail the shoe on, and level down
the clenches. The pincers to pull off the shoe and
draw up the nails previous to their being clenched.
The use of the buffer is to knock off the clenches with
tlie wide part, and to knock out any old stubs in the foot
with the other. The heel-cutter, which fits into a hole
in the anvil, is, as its name implies, for cutting off the
heels of the shoe. The toeing knife, usually made out
of an old file, is intended for shortening the toes, and,
when used with circumspection, is very serviceable for
lowering the crust at the heels, and for opening the heels.

ABOUT THE TOOLS FAEPJEES USE.

"The drawing knife"* is used in lowering the crust,
and opening tlie heels, while " the searcher" is principally

Fig. 6.
farrier's tools.
A.— The Buffer iised to knock off the clenches, previous to removing

the Shoe from the Foot.
B. — The Searcher,
c. andD. — Drawing Knives for lowering the Crust.
E. — Toeing Knife.
F. — Turning Hammer.

meant for cutting out the foot when diseased, or when it
has been pricked, or to search for corns, etc. The rasp

* I have given figures of two drawing knives, they are bo'th
used, some farriers preferring the one, and some the other.

e

■.'^

76 ABOUT THE TOOLS FAEEIERS USE.

is used for levelling the seating for the shoe, and like-
wise after the old shoe has been pulled off. It is also
greatly but injuriously applied to the clenches, rasping
them down as it is termed, as well as over the outside
of the crust, with an erroneous idea that it is an improve-
ment.

The fuller — as its name implies, is for fullering or
making a groove round the edge of the shoe for the nail-
heads to fit into. The Eodway shoe and some of Gray's
are fullered shoes. The alleged objection to fullering is
that it weakens the shoe, a fact that most authorities
disagree upon. Some assert if the groove is cut deep
the iron is liable to crack in the outward edge of the
fuller, and if it is superficial it affords no security to the
head of the nail, the only reason for its being made.
Others assert the contrary. The fuller, however, if filled
up as I recommend in the last chapter but one, becomes
a source of strength instead of weakness.

THE PEESERVATION OF THE HOOF.

CHAPTEE VI.

THE PRESERVATION OF THE HOOF.

Having described what the farrier's duty ought to be as
regards his treatment of the hoof, I now wish to discuss
what the groom's obligations are, so far as stable attention
to the feet of the horse is concerned.

There are two essentials, and very important ones, to
be attended to in the treatment of the feet by grooms —
which are, cleanliness and coolness ; for unless the hoofs
are kept clean and cool, the pores in the horn will get
clogged up from the first cause, and it will become hard,
dry, and brittle, from the second. Now, as the rules to
obviate these are simple in the extreme, any one who
neglects to follow them must either be guilty of gross
mismanagement or of equally cvilpable ignorance.

The two rules for keeping horses' feet healthy, and
preserving the horn, are, " use nothing hut water to the
hoofs — either as a cleanser or an ornamenter ; and never
alloiv horses to stand in the stalls upon litter during the
dayr

I have already observed that the hoofs of horses are
porous, and that imperceptible perspiration is carried on
through these pores, in precisely the same way and

78 THE PKESEliVATION OF THE HOOF.

according to the same laws as take place in other parts
of the body. Now it is a well known fact that if oil is
applied to the human skin perspiration is prevented,
and in the east, and other parts of the world, where oiling
the skin is practised by the inhabitants, the practice is
frequently attended with fatal consequences. The same
holds good with respect to horses' hoofs, for grease or tar,
by shutting up the pores in the horn, prevents the natu-
ral moisture from reaching the surface outwardly, and
the air from circulating inwards, — consequences which
act upon the horn with ruinous results.

If you tell a groom what is sure to happen from this
pernicious habit, he will triumphantly inquire — how oil
or grease, which softens leather, can harden horn ? and
when you explain to him the difference between the
nature of the two substances — pointing out tlie distinc-
tion that exists between the dead and living parts of
animals ; how the latter having juices, etc., necessary for
their nourishment and support, require no ajiplications
to prevent them from drying, decaying, or rotting, as the
former do, he will either refuse to listen to your argu-
ments, or laugh at them, as being the height of absurdity.

Another equally baneful habit is the stufQng, or
"stopping of horse's feet" (as it is termed), with hot greasy
mixtures or cow-dung, under the idea of softening or
cooling them. Of the various prescriptions recommended
for this purpose it will be needless to give more than one
example, which I take from a very recent book,* — where

* Horses, hoiv they ov()ht to he shod, p. 45. PuLlislied 1869.

THE PEESERVATION OF THE HOOF. 79

it states one of the best compositions we have found, for
the purpose of applying to the feet, is the following —

Tar . . 2 lbs.

Bees was . 1^ lb.

Honey . . 1 lb.

Suet (Beef or Mutton) 2 lbs.
Whale oil . 4 lbs.

The above ingredients to be mixed and slowly melted
together in a hot water bath. It should be applied
freely to the sole and wall of the foot by means of a
small brush, at least once or twice a-week. Now, I have
no hesitation in saying that if this advice was followed
strictly, and instead of the "az! least once or twice a-week"
it was applied daily to the feet of any horse, that that
horse would in six months scarcely have a morsel of
sound horn to nail a shoe to. The prescription given
above has not much originality about it, as Sir William
Hope, in his translation of Solysell's Perfect Farrier,
recommends a mixture of "honey, tar, and tallow"*
mixed togethei-, as an "effectual and cheap remedy" to
make the hoof soft and tough. One hundred years ago
Bartlett recommended as an ointment for the hoofs —

" Bees wax . . 2 oz

Lard . , , 6 „

Tar . . . 1 „

and as much neat's-foot oil as will make it the consistence of a
smooth ointment." t

All such appliances are injurious in the extreme, and

"^ Perfect Farrier, p. 280. Published 1717.
t Gentlemen's Farriery, p. 300. Published 1770.

80 THE PRESERVATION OF THE HOOF.

cow-dung, from its well-known restringent qualities, not
only cliys the horn but rots the frog. If plenty of water,
and water only, be applied to the hoofs, and the farrier
be debarred from using the rasp and cutting the horn
away, I will guarantee that the hoofs will be preserved
in their sound natural state. In this way a free and
equal perspiration would be kept up, by which the
natural nourishment of the hoof, not being interfered
with, that constant cohesion of the parts which con-
stitute a firm, sound, and tough hoof, must follow.

I now come to the too common custom of keeping
horses constantly standing upon dry litter in the stable
during the daytime, w^hich, as it overheats the hoofs and
legs (these being found always to agree best with cool-
ness and moisture), the treatment is exceedingly hurtful.
If there was any advantage in keeping horses littered
doM'n, such as that they needed every moment's rest
which could be afforded them, I should be very loathe
indeed to interfere, but knowing as I do, and as every-
body else does, that horses require no more ease than
their natural rest at night gives ; that in fact this
bedding-down by day is either for display in well-
regulated establishments, or else as a screen for dirt and
a premium on laziness in situations where orderliness
is less thorough, I am the more astonished at its con-
tinuance. If it was not well known to all, that horses
while they are running in the fields have their hoofs in
a better condition than those that are kept hot and dry
in the stable, we would not be surprised so much at the
continuation of this really mischievous practice, but with

THE PRESERVATION OF THE HOOF, 81

such facts before us, it is certainly as wonderful that
these valuable animals should be made to injure them-
selves by standing on hot litter, as it is that greasing
their hoofs should be permitted, with the insane view
of improving the horn.

No better example could be given as to the advan-
tages the animals gain from not being treated so, than
what is given by our cavalry horses, where grease being
difficult to be procured, and the horses are not allowed
to be bedded down during the day, diseases of the feet
are much rarer among the troopers' than among the
officers' chargers, where the entirely opposite system is
carried out.

Water, and no stint of it, to the horses' legs and feet,
with clean swept out Avell- ventilated stables for them
to stand in during the day, will find its reward in the
increased health of the animals, as well as in the whole-
some soundness of their hoofs.

Lord Pembroke's words upon this subject are so much
to the purpose that I willingly quote them : " Standing
on litter," he said, " is a bad custom ; the constant use of
it heats and makes the feet tender, and causes swelled
legs ; moreover, it renders the animal delicate. Swelled
legs may frequently be reduced to their proper natural
size by taking away the litter only, which, in some
stables, where ignorant grooms and farriers govern, would
be a great saving of bleeding and physic, besides straw.
I have seen, by repeated experiments, legs swell and un-
swell by leaving litter, or taking it away, like mercury
in a weather glass."

82 THE PEESERVATION OF THE HOOF.

In proof of the advantage good ventilation confers, I
need only mention that when horses are, as at Aldershot
each summer, put into canvas stables, their health is far
superior while there than what it was previously to
going into and subsequently leaving that description of
shelter. With respect to the common opinion that
washing down a horse's legs gives them cracked heels,
I can only state that^I have known horses sent on pro-
vost duty in that camp with very bad cracked heels,
who yet never failed to get well in a fortnight, although
out till midnight, and exposed to all weathers. The
treatment, so successful in their cases, was being rode
into a pond, up to their girths, every night on coming off
duty, fed, and left to dry.

DISEASES ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHOEING. 83

CHAPTER VII.

OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING.

Here I wisli to mention only those diseases which. I
consider could be prevented either by preparing the foot
for the shoe on natural and common sense principles, or
by applying a shoe suitable for the hoof to carry ; and
when I mention that not only corns, thrush, quittor, cut-
ting, sand-cracks, ringbone, greasy heels, and contracted
feet, come within this category, but also navicular dis-
ease, and drop-sole or pumice feet, it will be perceived
that something like three-fourths of the complaints that
horse-flesh now appears to inherit are in reality prevent-
ive ; the importance of the matter will be at once con-
ceded.

Corns in horses' feet are not always due to bad shoe-
ing. On the contrary, their cause can mostly be traced
to that pregnant evil — contraction of the horn ; for when
contraction has set in, the hard hoof presses upon the
points of the coffin-bone, and it is this pressure which,
in my opinion, produces corns. Doubtless pressure upon
the heels, from the shoe being improperly put on, will
cause corns, as what produces them in the one case
produces them in the other. In the first instance they
are a consequence of pressure of the sensitive part of the

84 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

foot that lies between the points of tlie coffin-bone and
the horn, and in the second instance they result from
the pressure of part of the sensitive sole between the iron
shoe and the points of the coffin-bone. In Fig. 3 I
have marked the seat of corn, and I may add that they
are nearly always to be found afflicting the fore feet, and
are to be met with generally at the inside heels of the
fore feet. Now, as the horn of the fore feet is not only
thinnest at the heels, but is usually thinner inside than
what it is at the outside heel, my theory as to the cause
of corns will be readily understood, the thin horn being
the most liable to contract. In the hind feet, where the
horn is thickest at the heels, we rarely find corns, which
is another proof of my assertion ; but as an ounce of
fact is worth a pound of theory, I will give a case in
point as evidence of the truth of my statement.

I should, however, before going further, explain how
they can be prevented. I have already drawn attention
to the necessity existing for frog pressure as a preventa-
tive to contraction ; and if we remember that it is the
thinness of the horn at the heels of the fore feet which
makes contraction there so easy a matter, it stands to
reason that this very slimness will help the heels to
open if frog pressure is permitted. Therefore if the frog
is allowed to take its bearing upon the ground, every
step of the horse will assist to open the heels, and conse-
quently lessen the pressure upon the points of the coffin-
bone, when the bruised part would soon get well after
the cause ceased to exist.

Now for ]ny ounce of fact. On the 15tli of Februaiy

ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING. 85

1870 I saw a horse named "Captain," belonging to
INIessrs. Jarvis and Haggar of the Berkshire Brewery,
Windham Eoad, Camberwell Eoad, London, which had
come in the previous night very lame on both fore feet,
and had lain down as soon as it got into the stall. "When
I arrived the horse was still lying down, and, finding the
feet very hot, I sent for the farrier — a man named Nor-
ris, of the Camberwell Eoad, a painstaking clever work-
man— and had the fore shoes taken off, and, as I expected,
found a bad corn at the inside heel of each fore foot.
Fortunately the horse had goodish frogs, and not over-
fleshy flat feet ; and so I had the heels well lowered, the
corns cut out and dressed, the bearing of the shoes re-
moved off the heels, — in fact the wdiole weight made to
fall upon the frog, -which, when the shoes were fastened on
again, was a good quarter of an inch nearer to the ground
than they were. INIark the result : this very horse
("Captain"), that had been troubled with corns for a
long time previously, has never suffered from them since
— now going on three years ; but that is not all, — his
feet, which were formerly of an oval shape, have now
got circular, and the horse's appearance and health alto-
gether have improved in like proportion. In horses that
have flat low heels, corns may arise from too great a
pressure upon the sole, in consequence of a too wide
webbed shoe, or from its not having been fitted level.
In such a case the bearing must be taken off the tender
part, and, if possible, the heels low^ered more, in order
to get the frog nearer to the ground, when the corns
would speedily diso.ppear.

iSb OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

"Thrush aud greasy heels " are likewise, in my opinion,
attributable to the same causes, — contraction, and
standing upon litter in the stable, although this is not
every one's idea I allow. Some people even consider
that there are horses which running thrushes and grease
benefit, as drainage does marshy lands, carrying off the
bad humours in the blood. I have been told often that
grease if cured in one place must break out again in
another, and probably assume a more dangerous form ;
and, therefore, that the discharge at the heels should be
rather encouraged than otherwise, so long as it did not
prevent the horse from working. It is very sad to have
to listen to such arguments, as the pam and torture the
poor animals must suffer from such credulous ignorance
cannot be imagined, far less described.

I will speak first of the evil effect standing on hot
litter has upon the legs. It is well known that while
heat attracts or draws the blood to any part, cold has
an opposite tendency, as, for instance, when we have a
Turkish bath, cold water is usually don died over the
head, to prevent an overflow of blood to tliat part from
the extra heat the body is subjected to. Litter has the
former effect upon horses, its constant use effectually
heating the feet and making them tender. Swelled legs
may frequently be reduced to their proper size by taking
away the litter only ; and it has been seen by experiments
made that "legs would swell and unswell, by leaving
litter or taking it away, like mercury in a weather-glass."

Contraction sets in in various ways, occasionally by
both heels drawiug near together, driving the frog into

ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING. 87

the foot, which, losing shape, eventually becomes as large,
if not larger, round the coronet than at the base. Then,
again, one heel (generally the inner, in consequence of its
thinness) contracts more rapidly than the outer, when
corns at that part become inevitable. In other cases
the contraction begins at the coronet, when the form of
the foot gets entirely changed, becoming either rapidly
wider and more of a bell shape as it gi^ows downwards,
or it gets long and narrow, the horn obtaining a great
thickness towards the toe, and having a tendency often
to turn upwards. In the last-named instances the hoof
assumes a grooved appearance, resembling an oyster-shell
a good deal (see Plate II, Fig. A, Frontispiece) ; and when
feet have reached that state their chance of recovery has
got to be very small indeed. Visitors to the International
Exhibition of 1871 may recollect seeing there an expand-
ing horse-shoe. It is not of the shoe I am going to speak,
but of a natural hoof which lay alongside this patent
horse-shoe, and was intended to show the description of
contracted feet the shoe was supposed to remedy. The
poor animal to which the hoof belonged had evidently
"cut" or "brushed" in travelling, and the farrier, to
prevent this, had rasped so much away of the inside horn
that it actually was no thicker at that part than a piece
of cartridge paper. The result was, that the inner half
of the foot folded over, or rather under, the outer half,
in a very remarkable way, which I can only describe by
comparing it to the human hand, if a person was to try
to cover up the palm of liis hand by squeezing the lower
part of the thumb and the outer edge together. The

88 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

lower part will then project across the palm as one half
of this horse's foot did. What must that poor creature
have suffered before death put an end to its misery ?

In Plate II. (Frontisjnece) I have shown a j^erfect crust
and an imperfect one. The former, marked B, is nearly-
circular in shape, the crust perfectly smooth and regular,
the frog resting upon the ground as well as the shoe, the
sole concave, the coronary band even and decided in form,
and the rufjgae into which the sensitive laminae expand or
contract from, at every step of the horse, can be plainly
perceived. The latter, marked A, is of a scoop-like form,
the crust being rough, and with irregular rings projecting
outwards and downwards, the coronary band scarcely
perceptible, great disparity in the thickness of the horn,
which, unnaturally thin at the heels, is in proportion
more immoderately thick at the toe, the sole convex in-
stead of concave, the whole, in short, being as unlike
what it should be as can be w^ell imaoined.

The hoof, I need scarcely repeat, consists of the wall
or crust, the sole, the frog, and the bars. When we
examine one that has been recently separated from the
foot, as shown in Plate IL, a great number of small per-
forations may be observed in the groove inside of the
coronary band. Into these pores flow the secretions
which supply the horny matter, while at the same time
a thinner substance descends, and covers the whole of
the external surface of the crust, and this, by preventing
undue evaporation, keeps the hoof cool and moist. The
crust, therefore, grows from the coronet, taking as it de-
scends a conical shape, so as to cover correctly the bones,

ATTKIBUTED TO SHOEING. 89

nerves, and muscles beneath it. In a healthy foot, as
shown in the plate, the crust is much wider at the base
than at the coronet, the frog large and well developed,
and the sole strong and arched.

This describes only the healthy foot. To make the
hoof take another shape we have only to remove the bars,
cut away the frog, and pare the sole, when, according to
the work the horse has to do, his feet will take their
formation, A riding-horse, doing easy work, would, under
such treatment, soon suffer from contracted feet ; while
the feet of a heavy draught-horse would not only become
narrow at the heels, but flat-soled, or, as it is termed,
"pumice" or "convex" footed. In certain cases the
crust loses its proper form, becoming flatter, besides the
horn growing unnaturally thick at the toe, and in time
assumes the scoop-like shape marked A in the plate.

It is so difficult from any written description to real-
ise what bad shoeing and bad stable treatment will bring
a liorse's foot to resemble, that I have given a drawing
(Fig. 7) here of a pumice foot which belonged to a horse
once the property of the London and South- Western
Railway Company. Its dimensions are given in the
plate, and, if compared with any healthy foot, it will be
at once jDerceived that the interior sensitive parts of the
foot must have shrunk, from the compression of the horn,
to less than one-half their original size, while the form
of it, from the same cause, had outrageously altered.
The horn at the toe got to be simply a solid 3-inch block,
while at the heels it was not |th of an inch in thickness.
As an example of what bad treatment of the horse's foot

90

OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

will often culminate in, this is a very good specimen, while,
unfortunately, it is no rarity, — the foreman farrier of the
railway company having several specimens similar to
the accompanying drawing.

D

Fig. 7.

SECTION OF A HORSE's HOOF — REMARKABLE SPECIMEN.

AB. — Length, 74 inches.
D E. — Depth, 3 J inches.

In this specimen the growth of horn at the toe is something extraordinary,
while the almost total disappearance of the interior ridges, into which
the sensitive laminae should expand, is equally remarkable.

If farriers would but reflect that the horse's hoofs
are constantly growing, — the crust being produced by
the coronary ring, the horny sole by the sensitive sole,
and the horny frog by the sensitive frog, — that all these
are elastic, and have motion, — and that whatever in-
jures the outer parts nmst injuriously affect the inner
portions, — they would surely be more careful and cir-
cumspect in their treatment of horses' feet. They
know, or should know, that the weight of the horse is
sustained by the internal and superior j)art of the crust,
the laminae connecting the coffin-bone to it in such a
manner that the principal portion of the horse's weight
is thus suspended to the inside of the hoof.

ATTEIBUTED TO SHOEING. 91

A reference to Plate I. {Frontispiece) will make my
meaning perhaps more easily understood. From that it
will be perceived, when the weight of the horse, falling in
turn from the lower pastern bone upon the coffin and
navicular bones, pressing them downwards, that the la-
mina lengthen, forcing the crust downwards at the same
moment ; and as these bones descend the horny sole also
descends slightly, and flattens, compelling, with the up-
ward pressure from the frog, the heels, quarters, and bars
to expand or open outwards. "When the weight is re-
moved by the animal being in motion, these parts again
contract as the foot leaves the ground, thus jjroducing
contraction and expansion alternately. Now, as the ex-
tent of this motion depends on the thickness and power
in the crust to sustain the weight of the horse, the differ-
ence between a strong hoof and a weak one will soon
tell. The former, so long as it is treated on sound prin-
ciples, will continue to present a regular slope from the
coronet to the lower part ; whereas the other, treated
differently, becomes hollow, wrinkled, and flattened at
the sole, as is shown in Fig. A, Plate 11. {Frontisinece),
which represents an indented distorted hoof, instead of
a perfect pillar of horn, as it should be.

Contraction, then, has a remarkably ill effect upon
the horn of the horse's feet. In cases of thrush and of
grease, it, by stepping the free circulation of the blood,
causes humours to collect, for which there is no vent
save through the fibres of the wasted frog, or by the thin
porous skin above the heels. In thrush the contraction
prevents a sufficient supply of blood from reaching the

92 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

sensitive frog that produces tlie insensible frog, and so,
it becoming useless for the purpose nature intended it,
instead of coming to horn it oozes out a noxious-smelling
fluid. With grease the evil is caused by the accumula-
tion of blood from the arteries, which the contraction of
the hoof prevents the veins from carrying back to the
heart, occasioning thereby the swelling at the heels,
which eventually becomes the collection of cankered
sores which we know under the name of " greasy heels."
The only preventative and cure for these is frog pressure,
standing on cool pavement, and plenty of cold fomenta-
tions. Thrush and frog pressure cannot exist together,
as the frog, if allowed to bear upon the ground, grows
rapidly, when the disease effectively cures itself by grow-
ing out.

Sand-cracks, concave and convex soles, will all suc-
cumb to the same treatment ; and as for navicular disease,
the fact of its being unknown in countries where the frog
is left as nature intends it to be, is, I should say, proof
sufficient of what this disease is due to. It may, how-
ever, be as well to explain the cause of navicular disease,
and how it best may be prevented or remedied.

If the reader will again refer to Plate I. {Frontispiece) he
will observe an "0" marked beneath the navicular bone,
which is the seat of this disease. The cause of the disease
is from that portion of the weight which falls from the
lower pastern bone upon the navicular bone, pressing upon
the bursal sheath of the back sinew. If the frog took a
bearing upon the ground — that, the natural cushion of the
foot, would act as a support to the back sinew when the

ATTEIBUTED TO SHOEING. 93

part of the weight of the horse came upon it ; but in con-
sequence of the absence of frog pressure, the strain or
overtax upon the tendon at the ankle, where it makes its
bend round the navicular bone, causes inflammation of a
bursa, and the first stage of this disease has been reached.
In the second stage the navicular bone, becoming affected
by the neighbouring inflammation, rots, and when the
disease has got thus far it is deemed to be incurable.
In rare instances the rotting of the bone has stopped
from frog pressure having been restored ; still the bone
never becomes thoroughly sound. A little reflection on
this important subject will show how very important
frog pressure is, as, even when the horse is resting as he
stands in the stall, some portion of his weight must fall
from the lower pastern bone upon the navicular bone,
which rests upon the back sinew, and which last should
in turn receive support from the sensitive and insensitive
parts of the frog underneath it. How much more then
must this necessary support be needed when the animal
is in motion, especially if at a fast gallop, or landing on
hard ground after being leapt over a hedge. If the frog
is there to receive the shock, the horse lands on his feet
with all the ease and comfort that a cat does upon her's
after a jump, but when the frog has been ruthlessly cut
away there is nothing to break the fall, and, as is often
the case, the animal is ruined by the jar having brought
on irritation of the sheath which covers the back sinew,
and inflammation sets in. If we, jumping from a height,
light upon the ground with our heels first, instead of
upon our toes, we feel shaken all over, and a horse

94 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

sufiers the same sensation when he lands upon feet that
have had their natural cushions removed. La Fosse
describes this action as a " compression," fitly comparing
the process of the lower pastern bone squeezing the nut
bone (navicular bone) on the top of the tendon, to the
action of " the hammer upon the anvil."

In examining, after death, the feet of horses that
have been diseased in the manner I have described, it
will be found generally that the laminae (or elastic
membranes that unite the cofiin-bone to the hoof) have
been destroyed, the form of the coffin-bone altered, and
its size diminished (or the side cartilages changed to
bone), and the whole of the interior part of the foot
disarranged, or rather displaced. This shows the neces-
sity of attending to horses' feet more than is commonly
done, and grooms should be instructed to take the measure
of their horses' feet at every shoeing, so that the slightest
tendency to alteration would be observed in time. There
is no difficulty in doing this ; a piece of paper having
only to be placed under each foot, and a pencil run
round the outsides, when the sizes would be exactly
given. These would only have to be cut out, and
marked near fore or off hind, as the case might be, date
of shoeing, with the horse's name on each paper, and
put away for future use. A reference to these at any
time would always show whether the feet were retain-
ing their proper shape, or had got longer in form with
narrower heels, when, if the latter case threatened,
means could at once be taken to stay the contraction.

If there is one thing more than another to be ascribed

ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING. 95

to bad skoeiiig, it certainly is what are termed cutting
and overreaching. Not but what there are some horses
predisposed to brush, or interfere by the malformation
or position of their feet (the toe of a fore foot, for instance,
instead of being in a line with the point of the shoulder
inclining either inward or outward), but they are in
number few in comparison with the thousands which
are continually under treatment for cutting and clicking.
As a rule horses oftener interfere behind than in front,
but in the latter case, when it assumes the character
of "speedy cut," the injury falling inside the leg, just
below the knee, it becomes the more serious evil.

Speedy cut most commonly happens in horses with
high action, and in others that carry their heads up, and
in fretful impetuous animals generally. Farriers usually
assume that the foot which interferes is too large, and
regarding it as but a block of horn, rasp off as much of
the crust as they think will permit it to pass the leg
without touching, and if that does not answer, the foot
is raised higher on one side than the other by thickening
the shoe. The cause, however, is often from the shoe
projecting, a clinch rising, or, more frequently, from the
animal not being shod level and true.

In " speedy cut," the first thing to be ascertained,
in order to effect a cure, is what part of the foot or
shoe strikes the leg. When any doubt exists about
this, it may easily be set at rest by wrapping a pipe-
clayed bandage round the jDart struck, when a mark
will be left on the part that strikes it, which must then
be altered, but no cure can be sought for until the swell-

96 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

ing from the blow or blows has entirely disappeared.
Generally a horse cuts wdth the inside fore part of the
foot, and not with the inside heel, as is commonly sup-
posed. However, it should be remembered that horses
often cut merely from fatigue, or what is styled " leg
weariness," and with such cases rest is only needed to
cause a cure.

The usual method adopted to cure a horse from cutting
is to rasp down the horn of the hoof that interferes, and
apply a peculiarly formed shoe to the foot. This shoe,
for a fore foot, is seated out on the foot surface, the
inside half of the shoe being made considerably thicker
than the outer half, so as to tilt the foot on one side ;
the inside edge of the shoe is also bevelled off so much
as to give the shoe the appearance of passing right under
the foot, and in consequence of the hoof being rasped
down so thin that there is no room for a nail to hold,
the shoe is only fastened to the toe and to the outside.
I have in another place called attention to what this
treatment leads to, so I will not again refer to what
must appear so plain to even the most prejudiced mind.
The hind shoe, "to prevent cutting," is made with a
clip at the toe, and flat on the foot surface, being usually
secured (like the other) by six or eight nails attached to
the outside half of the foot, with one or two at the toe.
No nails, from the same reason — rasping the crust so
thin — can be driven inside, but of course that does not
prevent the shoe being made so thick at this part as to
tilt the foot outwards in the same manner that the fore
shoe is fashioned. When it is found that both rasping

ATTKIBUTED TO SHOEING. 97

and tilting the foot outwards, has only tended to develope
more fully the animal's power to injure itself, the thick-
ening is applied to the outer edge of the shoe so as to
tilt the foot inwards, and when this equally results in
failure, the farrier gives it up, and declares a boot must
be worn, the horse being incurable.

There is far more reason in the latter idea, namely,
tilting inwards, than in the former one ; for when a horse
is at rest he supports his weight equally on both feet,
but in motion, and having the inner heels and quarters
raised above the outer ones, when one foot is elevated
he must have a tendency to fall outwards, and as the
only way for him to counteract that inclination would
be to bring the moving foot nearer the supporting one,
the two must come in contact, thus causing the very
injury the form of the shoe is meant to prevent. But
when the foot by the shape of the shoe is made to lean
inwards, the tendency of the horse will be to fall in that
direction, to counteract which he would naturally swing
the moving foot outwards or further away from the
supporting foot, and thus avoid striking. This last
theory seems feasible enough until practically tested,
when it is found that in nearly all cases the " cutting "
continues as before, nor is it difficult to discover the
reason. If, in any muscular effort, for instance, to lift a
weight from off the ground, a man places himself in an
unnatural position, the moment action ceases, to ease
the strained muscles his body will at once bend itself
in quite an opposite direction. In proof of this I need
only refer to a particular class of tradesmen — tailors, who,

H

98 OF DISEASES THAT MAT BE

being obliged to sit while at work with their backs
greatly bent, are particularly distinguishable from all
other men, when walking, by the hollowness of their
backs. They, as soon as they get released from a sitting
posture, relieve the muscles of their backs by bending
them as much as possible inwards; and by the same reason,
if a horse's foot is raised on one side it either causes him,
if it tilts outwards, to move it in the opposite direction,
or if tilted inwards he is unable to lift his feet otherwise
than by a circular motion in the same direction — either
way being alike disastrous.

To remedy or to cure a horse of brushing or over-
reaching he must in the first place be shod perfectly
level. ■ We can never expect to gather grapes from
thistles, neither need we ever anticipate curing a horse
of cutting by the very means we should adopt if we
were striving to make him strike the fetlock joint of one
leg with the foot of the other. "We might as well expect
to cure one broken leg by breaking another, as to cure
interfering with the shoes our blacksmiths use for that
purpose. Next to shoeing level endeavour to alter the
horse's style of going ; for instance, if his heels are high,
lower them as much as possible ; if the toes of the foot
are long, shorten them well, and I will guarantee that
any horse that interfered before being thus treated will
not do so afterwards, provided he is not deformed about
the knees or feet.

Overreaching, or clicking, is more uncomfortable for
the rider to hear than dangerous to the animal itself.
To cure this the farrier fastens on a shoe that does not

ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING^. 99

reach the toe of the hind foot by half or three-quarters
of an inch, so that, although the forging may continue
as bad as ever, yet by the toe thus hanging over the
shoe the clicking sound is only deadened, not removed.
Now we have only to consider what causes " clicking,"
to find the remedy. A horse clicks because his hind
feet overtakes his fore feet, that is, the hind feet in their
stride either reach too far, or the stride of the fore feet
is not great enough to get clear from the hind ones. If
such a thing was ever required as to shorten a horse's
stride, all that would have to be done would simply be
to shorten the toes, and allow the heels to grow high,
and soon a very perceptible change in his length of pace
would be observable. In my experience I have mostly
found horses with high fore heels to be clickers, and
have also found that lowering the heels of the fore feet
as much as those would permit of, together with putting
lighter shoes on in front than behind, invariably effected
a cure.

Laminites or foundered feet is, in my opinion, trace-
able likewise to the pernicious habit of paring away the
sole and mutilating the frog. All authorities agree as
to the symptoms of the disease and the effects they
afterwards produce in the fore feet, while they equally
agree that it is caused by violent exercise. A horse
attacked with this disorder pushes forward his hind
feet almost under his shoulders, so as to ease the fore
feet as much as possible from the weight of that part of
the body above them. The hoofs, at the same time, are
so hot that if water is thrown over them they dry

100 OF DISEASES THAT MAY BE

instantly, wliile the intense pain the animal snffers is
evident by his quick breathing, his heaving flanks, and
groans at the least attempt to move him.

Now we have only to suppose a horse in wide webbed
shoes to be driven rapidly over a hard road, to recognise
the fact that the blow and friction each time the feet
come to the ground would produce a certain amount of
heat in the iron shoe, which would increase according to
the length of the journey and the rate the horse was
being driven. If, in addition to being shod with wide
webbed shoes, we also suppose the horse's feet to have
been mutilated in the usual manner, we — iron being such
a good conductor of heat — can easily imagine how hot
and inflamed those feet must become. Between this
state of the feet and that of laminites or founder, the
difference is but a slight one. But if a horse was shod
with narrow webbed shoes, and had his feet left in their
natural state, except the necessary loM^ering of the crust
previous to shoeing, I feel confident that however fast he
was driven over any kind of road, his feet would not
only keep comparatively cool, but he would finish the
journey almost in as good order as when he started, and as
free from founder as he would be from that which causes it.
It is unnecessary for me tcf go further into the matter
of diseases of the feet, having, I believe, said sufficient
to direct attention to what I have perhaps too strongly
urged. If I have done so, I can only state in excuse
that, in the matter of suffering horses, I feel strongly,
and what I have written does not in most instances fully
express those feelings ; I can, however, honestly add, that

ATTRIBUTED TO SHOEING. 101

beyond the desire of benefiting these noble creatures, I
have no wish for my feelings or my opinions to be
known, far less that they should be detrimental to any
person or persons whatever.

102 HOW FAEEIEKS CAN BEST ACQUIKE A

CHAPTEE VIII.

SOME SUGGESTIONS HOW A SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF
THE horse's FOOT COULD BEST BE ACQUIRED BY
FARRIERS.

That farriers should possess an intimate acquaintance
with the anatomy of the horse's foot, is a matter of the
present time that will admit of no argument to the con-
trary, as it might with equal truth be advanced that
knowledge of an engine was not required by an engine-
driver, of a watch by a watchmaker, or that navigation
was too useless a study for the captain of a ship ever
to trouble his head about.

Hitherto tradition and routine have been permitted
to guide farriers in their wondrous ways of horse-shoeing;
consequently, it is a question whether, in following the
customs and manners of their forefathers, they are more
to be blamed than the general public — often too prone
with abuses to adopt Lord Melbourne's plan, " let them
alone" — for not insisting upon a change. There has
been certainly from time to time prizes offered at
agricultural shows for the best description of horse-shoe,
but as that was only a question of neat workmanship
being put into the neatest glass-case, neither horses nor
the public have benefited much from these exhibitions.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 103

I remember at the agricultural show held at Manchester
in 1869, that although three prizes were offered for dif-
ferent kinds of horse shoes, there were only the same
number of competitors, who, of course, got a prize each ;
these being awarded more, apparently, according to the get-
up of the shoe, than to any genuine value in their particular
shape or other ex cellence. If prizes are given— and I think
they ought to be — at agricultural meetings, they should
be awarded to the horse-shoers who could best give a
verbal description of how to fit out and put on a shoe,
in preference to men whose sole merit is being able to
use the turning hammer deftly. Some time ago the
foreman at the Glasgow Veterinary College made a re-
markable number of horse shoes in an hour — some
dozens if I remember rightly — and for having performed
this feat he is looked upon as being the best farrier in
the three kingdoms. I should, however, be more inclined
to award that honour to a man who was able to answer
questions correctly relative to the formation and func-
tions of the different parts of a horse's foot, and after-
wards practically carry out what he had explained
verbally, than to a man who could make seventy dozen
shoes in an hour. Perhaps the foreman at Glasgow is
even more clever at describing how shoes should be put on
than at making them ; if this is the case, it is a pity
that his being so was not mentioned as well. Agricul-
tural show prizes, discriminately bestowed, would doubt-
less do much, but there is a specific superior yet to them.
This remedy — education — will at once appeal to
everyone as the solution of the dif&culty, but we all

104 HOW FARRIERS CAN BEST ACQUIRE A

know that a horse can be taken to the water by one
man, while twenty men could not make him drink, and
in the instruction of farriers a similar obstacle might
arise — they may refuse to drink at the fountain of know-
ledge, preferring, of course, what they have been most
accustomed to — a draught from the waters of ignorance.
Now, as we never find a generally intelligent man the
worse workman for his intelligence, but always the
reverse, we know until farriers can be made to see
that it is their interest to become educated to a certain
degree, we shall never be able to get them to acquire
knowledge or to become more humane than they are
at present. In this matter, therefore, it is the public and
the veterinary surgeons who must take the initiative,
the former by refusing — after a certain time has elapsed
— to employ any farriers but those who can produce a
certificate of competency from the veterinary college
nearest to them, and the latter by throwing open schools
of instruction for shoeing-smiths in every town, deliver-
ing in them annual courses of lectures upon the horse,
his feet, and the diseases belonging to them, and how
they should be shod, in plain every-day language, that
all might understand.

Then farriers, finding their advantage was to study,
would do so ; and then, also, they could be judged and
classified by the standard of educational abilities and
their knowledge of the animal given to their care, instead
of as at present, when the test is merely workmanship.
We give now the highest wages to the man who can
turn out the neatest -looking shoe in the least time, while

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOESE'S FOOT. 105

the more particular parts, the preparation of the foot for
the shoe, and the subsequent operation of attaching the
shoe to the foot, is recognised as only an ordinary matter,
which any one can do, and is paid for accordingly.
Here a piece of manual dexterity receives the principal
reward; but, as I have observed already, a horse will
suffer less by having an ill-made shoe attached to his
foot on sound common sense principles, than he would
do from a shoe, however mathematically and correctly
finished, that was fastened on without a due regard to
the physiological formation of his foot.

If my suggestion of classes of an evening for farriers
was acted upon, we would soon find a superior staff of
workmen spring into existence ; a class, I will venture to
say, that would not allow trades' unions to lead them by
the nose. We should then have men able to think
and act for themselves, for knowledge ennobles the mind
as well as cultivates the understanding. And confident
am I, that if farriers can only be induced to make the
foot of the horse their study, they will find in it so much
that is entertaining and edifying, that what was first
taken to as a toil, would soon become a work of pleasure,
I might say a delight. How could it be otherwise ? for
every hour they studied would they not learn something
new and grand, of which before they had not the slightest
conception ? Their work, which hitherto had been only
regarded as the means of earning a bare living, would
now be elevated to an art, as well as a means of
subsistence ; in short, a profession akin to that of the
engineer and the physician.

106 HOW FAEEIERS CAN BEST ACQUIRE A

Let US try to fancy a farrier of the prevailing type
existing among us, attending evening classes, with the
wish for improvement, without which all would be futile.
Imagine him learning how those hard horn pillars grew
downwards continuously from day to day, the old
materials being pushed off by the new, and having his
attention drawn to the beautiful junction of the hair to
the horn at the pastern, by a gradual and imperceptible
change from sldn to a substance resembling gutta-percha,
and as the growth advanced from the coronary band to
the crust, how, this continuing, supported the great
weight of the animal, with a firmness and precision all
as astonishing to the learner as it would be gratifying.
Pursuing his studies, he would find, hid up inside of these
horn pillars, a mass composed of bones, of blood-vessels,
of cartilages, of muscles and of sinews, all working in
their natural state, and each performing their distinct
parts so well, and in such harmony, that, when allowed
by such as him, one portion never interfered with
another. He would find, when looking at the fore leg of
a horse, that it was something of far greater importance
than ever his wildest flights of fancy supposed it to be.
He would remember how, at one time, he had looked at
it without awe, because he had regarded it without
understanding ; but now, looking at it with other eyes,
he would see in it nothing but what was a cause for his
admiration and wonder. He would perceive how the
splint bones were joined to the cannon or shank bone,
and how that last formed, with the upper pastern bone,
the knee joint ; how the two pastern bones joined at the

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 107

fetlock, and how in turn the lower pastern bone rested in
a socket which was made for it by the coffin and navi-
cular bones, both inside of the foot. Going back to the
top of the fore leg and in front of it he would observe
that the front sinew (extensor tendon) passed down the
leg until it entered the foot and buried itself in front of
the coffin bone. At the back of the leg he would notice
a number of sinews and ligaments known by different
names, the one nearest the splint bone being termed
the superior sesamoidal ligament, which, dividing one
part branching off at the knee, passes over the pastern
bones, and enters the foot along with the extensor pedis
tendon ; the other part inserting itself into the sesamoid
bones. The flexor tendons (perforatus and perforans)
and metacarpal ligament he would observe behind the
sesamoidal, in the inverse order to what I have them
here, and these are the passive agents or ropes by which
the leg is raised upwards whenever the horse is in motion.
All of them are joined together before the continuation,
as it is termed, of the flexor perforans inserts itself into
the lower side of the os pedis. In the foot the farrier-
student would find a still greater field of instruction, the
shapes of the coffin and navicular bones affording in
themselves subject enough for months' thoughtful atten-
tion. The former he would find in form something like
the hoof that covered it, being semicircular in shape,
wide and thin at the base, but getting stronger and thicker
towards its upper part, which leaves its under surface
arched and concave, a wonderful provision of nature to
prevent the body from receiving too great or too sudden a

108 HOW FAERIEKS CAN BEST ACQUIRE A

shock in leaping or moving at speed. Before, when un-
acquainted with the anatomy of the horse's foot, he would
naturally have supposed that the internal parts of the
hoof were simply enclosed by the horn casing, which, by
its hardness, served to protect them from the blows and
pressure to which they would otherwise be constantly
exposed, but now how different would his thoughts be
as every portion was placed plainly to his view, and the
uses and qualities of each fully interpreted in turn ! He
would have explained to him how the parts of the inter-
nal foot are so nicely adapted to the cavity of the hoof,
that while they completely fill it, there is not the
slightest inconvenience from pressure, until the treat-
ment he had formerly practised was applied ; when, what
with the mutilation he had of the frog, sole, and bars,
and fitting on a heavy shoe red hot, caused in time the
hoof to contract and the cavity to diminish, when the
nerves and blood-vessels being compressed, and the cir-
culation of the blood impeded, inflammation and lameness
as a consequence ensued.

Coming to the internal foot, the bottom of it, formed
by the sensitive frog, sole, and bars, would be exposed to
his view, from which he would see how tlie convexities
of the first were so nicely adapted into the concavities of
the horny frog. The sensitive sole and bars he would in
like manner recognise, as also their special functions in
providing horn for their external parts. He would per-
ceive that it was for this purpose the numerous blood-
vessels were supplied, as likewise enabled to account
now for thrush, and the rottenness of frog which accom-

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 109

panies that disease. He would now understand how,
when the sensitive frog was compressed and inflamed by
a contraction of the heels, it became incapable of per-
forming its principal function — providing the horn —
because the blood intended for that purpose was expend-
ing itself in forming that offensive matter discharged in
thrushes. Next, he would be studying the connection
between the horny wall and the more sensitive parts, the
sole and frog, learning why the latter consisted of a dif-
ferent kind of horn from that of which the crust is
formed, being scaly at one part, and soft but elastic at
another ; its very concavity enabling the horse to tread
more firmly on the ground, while the convexity of the
tough elastic frog prevents the foot from slipping. Be-
tween the two parts, the sensitive and the insensitive,
he would discover two cartilages or elastic bodies, covered
in a great measure by the heels or quarters of the crust,
but belonging to the latter, which would tend to keep
the heels open, and not only that, for when the frog
comes in contact with the ground and receives the pres-
sure of the horse's weight, the sensitive frog is forced
upwards and rendered wider, at the same time the
cartilages are forced upward and outward, thereby ex-
panding the heels and quarters, as well as preventing
concussion.

And when he had thus observed how beautiful each
part of the foot was constructed, and how impossible it
could be for the most skilful and humane of workmen
to make an iron shoe that could be worn for four weeks
comfortably, even if the foot was left as near its natural

110 HOW FAERIEKS CAN BEST ACQUIRE A

shape as could be done, lie would at once make it his
sole aim and study to render shoeing horses as little
of a hardship, far less torture, to those animals as he
could ever possibly do.

Before concluding this chapter I may be permitted
to speak of an evil existing among shoeing-smiths, to
which, I fear, much of the ignorance and brutality they
are accused of might be traced — I refer to drink. To the
inordinate use of strong liquors farriers, from time almost
immemorial, have been addicted ; and putting entirely
aside all the misery and misfortune drink brings upon
themselves, I will only draw attention to the injuries
daily inflicted by men under the influence of liquor
upon the poor dumb animals turned over to their care
and protection. Here, in London, wherever there is a
farrier's shop, within fifty yards, often next door, will
be found a public-house ; and as it is the custom for all
the men to drink together, a score is run up hourly,
which it takes a good portion of their collective pay to
settle weekly. Horses, through the drinking, are often
struck with hammers and pincers, and cruelly kicked,
because their terror makes them endeavour to escape
further torture. If they continue to struggle against the
ill-usage, they are beaten with twitch sticks preparatory
to the twitches being put on their lips and ears, and
screwed up often so tight that the skin either gives way
or the blood springs out ; and I can confidently assert
that while I have seldom, if ever, seen a horse ill-treated
by a man who was perfectly sober, I never saw one in
drink use a horse quietly. Having had to do with horses

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOESE'S FOOT. Ill

since 1843 in all parts of the world, my experience lias
been both an extensive and varied one.

At the same time, I am far from being one who
thinks that drinking is the fruitful source of every crime
and cruelty committed under the sun, for I believe that
there are many people who, if restricted as to the par-
taking of stimulants, would suffer in health from the
restriction ; but from my long and intimate intercourse
with farriers, I feel confident that if they could all be
persuaded to turn tee-totallers to-morrow, the gain to the
public in general, and to the men themselves, and to the
horses in particular, would be incalculable.

There have been of late years many public companies
started into existence, some of which have met with
misfortune and others with success, but I am certain
none of the latter ever had such a chance of succeeding
as an English Shoeing Company would have, if it opened
shops throughout the kingdom to shoe horses on humane
and common sense principles, and only employed far-
riers who were abstainers from drink.

Perhaps temperance should be tried upon them before
education ; anyway, the two would go well hand-in-hand,
when the satisfactory result to be anticipated could not
for a moment remain in doubt. A shoeing company,
however, that only employed men who were abstainers,
and who could induce their men as well to attend even-
ing lectures upon the horse's-foot, given by veterinary
surgeons, would, I am confident, have a great and de-
served success.

112 ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

CHAPTEE IX.

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

Although I have headed this chapter with the word
"Old" in connection with horse shoes, it is not my in-
tention to rake up old iron from remote ages to illustrate
this part of my essay, being assured in my own mind
that I can find enough, within the last two centuries, to
answer my purpose.

As a rule our horse-shoers are content with the old
system of shoeing, as well as the old form of shoe, so if
a shoe is simply termed " new," that would be enough
in many instances to ensure, at their hands, its con-
demnation. Men of this stamp are difficult to convince ;
they think they can stand, as it were, with their backs
against the door of the world, in order to prevent
novelties which might interfere with their opinions
from coming in. But the world's walls are wonderful
ones, and its side-doors numerous, so while these
opposers of progress manage to keep the main gate
closed, the truth contrives to scale the walls or slide in
by side-doors the same as if no obstacle existed. Now
for a description of some old shoes.

Sir William Hope, in his Perfect Farrier, published
in 1717, is in raptures with the Panton shoe, which

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 113

were shoes made with straight spunges, and thicker in
the inside edge than the outer, and so formed that the
sloping or thick parts of the spunges may enter within
the corns of the frog. This shoe was made flat at the
toe, where it was pierced for the nails, and considered to
be the remedy for pumice, or flat-footed horses. A
modification of it, termed the half-Panton shoe, was also
in much request at the time, but neither of them
answered the purpose for which they were intended,
and now they are never heard of.

We owe to M. La Fosse much for his treatise on
shoeing, as he, striking at the root of the disease, advo-
cated that " neither the sole nor frog should be pared at
all, for neither will ever become too large for its growth ;
but in proportion as each grows it will dry, scale, and fall
off in flakes ; that the edge of the hoof, if thought too
long, should be taken down as usual, and then a shoe,
in form of a half-moon, set on, reaching the middle of
the hoof ; the heels might be thinned, and the shoes
made a little longer for such horses as have weak hoofs."
The " lunette shoe," as it was termed, met with consider-
able success, for it was found to suit all but very weak
heeled horses. Its principal fault was in its number of
nail-holes — eight — which, being so close together, broke
away the crust, and in their position at the toe, where
the leverage is greatest, all combined with the wear at
the part, was against their ultimate success. The prin-
ciple of shoeing was however excellent, and M. La Fosse
commands our gratitude for having introduced his shoe
and system to the notice of the public.

I

114 ABOUT HOUSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

The seated shoe was introduced many years ago into
this country by Mr. Osmer, as being much superior in
principle to the shoe then in use, but, like everything
else likely to be an improvement in farriery, it made
but little way. This shoe is of an equal thickness,
quite flat, and parallel from the toe to the heel, deviating
in width according to the necessity of the case, and
similar to the ordinary shoe with regard to the fullering,
nailing, etc. The foot surface of the shoe differs in
having a narrow plain rim, about the width of the crust,
all round the outward edge of the shoe, except at the
heel, which for about an inch is a flat surface, the
whole width, and the remaining part of the shoe being
bevelled out from the inward edge of the seating. The
only advantage this shoe had over others was, that the
crust rested on a flat surface instead of on an inclined
plane.

We next come to the shoe recommended by Mr.
Coleman, which places the level of the shoe upon the
ground-surface, in order to secure to the horse a better
foot-hold. Its most remarkable peculiarity is in its
being three times thicker at the toe than at the heels,
which, if meant to induce frog pressure, had an advan-
tage, I believe, in that respect, but in no other. Such
a shoe, however, would not answer for going uphill, as it
would cause an over-strain upon the back sinews, while
the tendency to trip would be much increased in a horse
predisposed that way. The merits of the shoe are its
narrowness of web, and the bevel on the ground-surface,
which must afford greater security to the animal when

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 115

travelling over the convex-shaped stones with which
our streets are paved.

The elasticity or expansive power in the foot has
given rise to much discussion from time to time, and
we have had shoes specially adapted in order to give
the hoof full play, should it have any inclination to open
out between the periods of shoeing. There has always
been a difference of opinion among authorities whether
the horse's foot contracts or expands, or does neither the
one nor the other, when it comes to, or leaves, the ground.
For my part, I am inclined to believe that it is claw-like,
and tries to grasp the ground each time it is put down ;
that when it reaches the ground the grasp is relaxed,
when the weight of the horse falling upon the frog (if it
is there) causes the whole foot to open towards the heels,
leaving the ground again with something like a bound,
and thus the heels have a small degree of contraction
and expansion at every tread which the horse makes on
the ground.

But whether the foot expands or contracts, or does
neither, jointed shoes have always proved to be failures,
and the cause is not difficult to determine. Mr. Bracey
Clarke invented a shoe with a joint at the toe, which he
called a "great discovery" in his day, adding that it
would form "a basis for the repose of the profession."
He claimed for it the power to relieve the feet from the
restraint of the shoe and nails, by permitting the natural
expansion of the hoof, and averting thus all the evils of
the common system of shoeing. The cause of failure was
simple enough, and had the inventor taken the trouble to

116 ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

fix his invention upon the model of a hoof that allowed of
expansion, he would soon have discovered that the nails
held the shoe as securely as if there had been no joint
there, and that all expansion in the hoof was by them
prevented. If the nails could have about a quarter of an
inch play either way, then a jointed shoe would have
some chance ; as it is, there is none for it whatever.

A Mr. Eotche took out a patent in 1816 for another
shoe, similar in principle to Mr. Clarke's. This shoe,
consisting of three or more pieces, attached to leather by
rivets, was found utterly useless for the purpose of
allowing the foot to expand. Since then we have had
Harris's (of Shiffnal Salop) expanding shoe, which was
patented in 1841, — and Lanty's shoe, to allow of expan-
sion, prevent concussion, wearing out of nails, and to
prevent slipping — patented 1865. All of these at-
tempted step-mothers of nature have been failures,
proving that no amount of art can ever replace the
proper preventer of contraction, concussion, and slipping
— viz. the frog.

From time to time several screw shoes have appeared,
each in turn affecting to be the cure for contraction, but
in every case the boasted efficacy of the contrivance
turned out to be quite imaginary. Sir John Eogers in-
troduced a shoe with a claw to it, intended to resist any
closing at the heels, but, like the others, it was found not
to answer. The screw shoe was made with a joint at
the toe, having the screw at the heels passing across the
foot from side to side. The foot was kept in water to
soften the horn, and every day the screw was slightly

ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 117

turned by a key, the hoof apparently opening wider at
the heels by the interior lengthening action of the screw.
But it was soon found that no proper expansion took
place, it being either the nails that gave, or the crust
that split. So ended the theory of the screw shoes,
which could never have been looked into properly, as
they would not have stood the test of common sense
investigation an hour. We have only to imagine that if
the nails did not give, nor the crust split, while the shoe
was forced wider apart, this result must follow — viz. the
wall of the foot would be torn away from the sole, and
the laminae at the heels ; a much more serious con-
sequence than the contraction could ever have produced.
Of shoes to prevent slipping there have been several
patented, but I will only refer to three — viz. Woodin's,
patented in 1845, Palmer's, patented in 1867, and Gray's,
patented in 1869. Woodin's is a double-bevelled, widish-
webbed shoe, with teeth or notches on the inside rim, as
a preventative to slipping, the nail-holes being outside of
these in a kind of fullered groove. Being made of cast
iron it never could have answered, even had its con-
struction been faultless, which it was not by a long way.
Palmer's fore shoes are simply a copy of Woodin's, but
the hind shoes differ in there being a blade at the quarters
instead of teeth ; in fact the hind shoes so much resemble
skates that one cannot help fancying, when he sees them,
that they are meant to assist a horse to slip, instead of
being a prevention against slipping, as they pretend to
be. These are made in a tool, and cost six shillings a
set with putting on. Gray's are steel shoes, made by

118 ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

machinery, and are simply ribbed and grooved bars, from
an inch and a quarter to an inch and three-quarters in
width, turned round in the shape of horse shoes. Their
price, which was from two shillings and sixpence to four
shillings a set would be a suiScient obstacle against them
ever coming into general use, irrespective of their
liability to fracture their width of web, and the peculiar
advantage their form gives for slipping sideways, which
no other shoe I ever saw possessed to a quarter of the
extent that those do. After they had been worn smooth
at the toe, I am sure that no horse could keep his feet,
shod with Gray's shoes for forty yards in London streets
any day after a slight shower, as the grooves run parallel
(except at the toes), with the paving-stones over which
the animal would have to travel.

Colonel ritzvvygTam,of the 15 th Hussars, recommends
a shoe turned up at the toe for the fore feet, as does
likewise Mr. Haycock of Manchester, for roadsters and
harness horses. That the arguments brought forward
by Colonel Fitzwygram in favour of this shoe deserve
more than a passing notice I am bound to admit, and I
will endeavour to fulfil the responsibility. Starting from
the point that horses wear their shoes most at the toes,
and that they invariably go better when the toe has been
worn down a little, the Colonel proceeds to draw atten-
tion to the fact that the coffin-bone of the horse's foot
has likewise this rounded form at the toe, and putting
all these facts together, infers that the shoe should be
made to follow this design. At first sight this all appears
both feasible and logical, but when we begin to reflect

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 119

that surely nature could never intend one-fourth of a
horse's fore foot to turn upwards from the ground, at
the very part she has supplied most bountifully with
horn, as if a more than usual bearing, instead of a less,
was to take place here, we begin to perceive the weak-
ness of the Colonel's position. And when we like-
wise remember that the fore feet of a foal at birth show
no more sign of a turn up at the toe than at the hind
feet, that horses so shod could keep but an indifferent
hold of the ground, and that when galloping they would
be rocking in front until there was a danger of them fall-
ing, we then are sensible that this theory will not stand
the test of practice.

Mr. Fleming, in his recent work on Horse Shoes and
Horse Shoeing, recommends that the old common
seated shoe, introduced years ago into this country by
Mr. Osmer, requires simply to be turned over — the
ground surface becoming the foot surface, and vice versa,
to form the most perfect shoe that he knows of. Although
it savours a little too much of legerdemain, this turning
over of the shoe that Mr. F. advocates, something that
reminds one too forcibly of Herr Dobbler's style, as if he
was addressing us with " Here gentlemen, in my hand
you will perceive a common horse-shoe, an old affair, so
very old that our grandfathers could not remember its
introduction if they were alive, and were I to venture to
say how many thousand horses this sort of shoe has ruined,
you would not only be amazed, you would be horror-
stricken; look well at this shoe, presto, I have but turned
it over gentlemen, when it has become the most perfect

120 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

horse shoe in existence." Yet I should certainly credit
Mr. Fleming with the discovery, simple as it is, had not
Professor Coleman, about the end of last century, recom-
mended a similar change to be made in the very same
shoe. In his Olservations on the Foot of the Horse, and
the Principles and Practice of Shoeing. Mr. Coleman, at
page 88, thus writes, " The Best form for the external sur-
face of the shoe is a regular concavity, that is the common
shoe reversed. This shoe leaves the hoof of the same
figure when shod as before its application. And it is
evident that a concavity has more points of contact with
pavement and other convex bodies than a fiat or convex
surface, and that the horse is consequently more secure
on his legs. A shoe that is flat externally may preserve the
hoof equally well in health ; but this form is not so
well calculated to prevent the horse from slipping, as a
concavit}^"

Mr. Fleming's words (after describing the objects to
be gained by shoeing) are, "The simplest method of
doing this is merely changing the bevel on the foot sur-
face of the ordinary shoe to its ground surface, making
what is now concave plain, and the flat slippery ground
surface concave. The effect is almost magical." — (Horse
SJioes and Horse-Shoeing, p. 664.) Now, as Mr. F.
quotes largely from Mr. Coleman's "book," it would
be superfluous to imagine that he had not read the
extract, from his work that I have given, yet, so far
from acknowledo-infT that he derived the idea of the
reversed shoe from Mr. C.'s book, Mr. Fleming rather
speaks slightingly of both the author and his produc-
tion. Here is what appears in Horse Shoes and Horse-

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 121

Shoeing, p, 518, and headed "Coleman's Opinions."
" Every allowance must be made in criticising many of
Coleman's notions with regard to shoeing. Though
a most promising surgeon before joining the Veterinary
College, his opportunities for studying comparative
pathology, and especially the subject under consideration,
must have been rare. Medical men, it must be remem-
bered, unless they study these matters as carefully as
they have done those connected with their own profes-
sion, are apt to commit very grave mistakes, their special
knowledge being at times more liable to mislead than
to guide them." And again, he continues, "Coleman
repeats the statement as to the evil influences of paring
and bad shoeing ; and, owing to his exaggerated notions
of the elasticity and expansive properties of the foot,
adopted almost entirely La Fosse's ideas as to the
manner in which it ought to be shod." Certainly these
are very cool remarks of Mr. Fleming's ; after having
adopted the credit of introducing a form of shoe that Mr.
Coleman had recommended so long ago, would it not
have shown better judgment in Mr. Fleming not to have
noticed Mr. Coleman's book at all ?

At the " Workmen's International ExhibitioD," held
two years ago in the Agricultural Hall, London, there
were several exhibitors of horse shoes, one or two of
which are deserving of notice. Mr. Pringle of London
exhibited what he terms* "a cone-jointed horse shoe,"

* Mr. Pringle's shoes were also in the International Exhibi-
tion of 1871, his and the Goodenough Horse Shoe being the
only ones that were shown there.

122 ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

which, like others of its class, has no merit beyond some
originality in design. Mr. Pringle also shows "An
improved clog for roughing," which I fear is too cum-
brous and costly ever to receive much patronage. It is
meant to be attached to the shoe in frosty weather, and
is a double section-plate with clips, which fasten on to
the shoe at the toe and heels. It opens or closes by
the action of a screw in the centre, and has four claws
(moveable) to prevent slipping on the ice. This clog
might answer the purpose intended, but is open to
objection on account of its extra weight, and the
chances of one or more claws breaking or coming out,
while the frog in its natural state is far before any arti-
ficial preventative there is or ever can be made against
slipping. Mr. Coles, an optician of Birmingham ex-
hibited a shoe and model. This is a method of attaching
the shoe without nailing, by taking advantage of the
slope of the hoof it fits all round the crust in the same
manner as a clip. It is in two parts, which are united
at the heels by a double joint that fixes under the frog,
the whole fastening in front like a bracelet, only that it
is a screw which secures it instead of a clasp. This,
however, is only the frame of the shoe, which also, in
two parts, is fastened on to the lower plate by screws,
and so those can be replaced when necessary. Some
considerable ingenuity is here shown, but as the frog
has to be cut in order to fix the shoe on, while it would
have to fit very tight, I am afraid a shoe of this de-
scription would be the cause of more contraction than
any other now in use. Certainly there would be the

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 123

advantages of no nails nor rasping, while it could be
taken off at night ; but the expense, the necessity to cut
the frog, together with its liability to break, will prevent
it from ever becoming anything more than a curiosity.

The india-rubber frog, which has been patented by
an Edinburgh Company, answers as a preventative
against slipping better than any other thing of the
kind I have seen, but as it is at best but a substitute for
the natural frog against slipping, and can never act as
an expander of the foot, it can only be recognised as
a make-shift. Like leather soles, it is also of a heating
nature, and therefore likely to prove injurious. The
frog itself, answering all purposes as an impediment to
slipping, is far preferable to any artificial inventions
meant to take its place.

I now come to narrow webbed shoes, the only shoes
in my opinion worthy of being adopted as the general
shoe for every description of horse. I hold that there
is no more mistaken idea than that which permits of a
particular formation of shoe for every class of horses,
and for every degree in each class. Not only — does
this idea say — shall cart-horses have different shaped
shoes from van-horses, carriage-horses from cab-horses,
hunters from hacks, and ponies from all the other six,
but that each lot should be again sub-divided into low
heels and high heels, convex and concave shaped soles,
feet disposed and indisposed to contraction, besides the
various kinds of shoes to prevent cutting and forging.

Now if we refer to the writings of every author on
the subject of horse-shoeing, from Blundevill, who lived

124 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, down to the most recent
authority of our own time, the number who recommend
a particular shoe for every kind of horse might be easily
reckoned on the fingers of one hand. Lord Pembroke,
in his treatise, writes, " From the race-horse to the cart-
horse the same description of shoes and system of shoeing
should be observed ; the size, thickness, and weight of
them only should differ, the shoe of a race-horse must
of course be lighter than that of a saddle-horse, that of
a saddle-horse lighter than that of a coach-horse, and
this last more so than a cart-horse." I might give
other authorities, but believing that all reasonable
people will, upon consideration, perceive that as all
horses have hoofs of a strength proportionate to their
bodies, they only need shoes the strength and thickness
of which is in a corresponding ratio ; and therefore the
same description of shoe, if it benefits hacks, hunters, or
ponies, will prove equally beneficial to draught-horses
of every kind.

Lord Pembroke was a great advocate for narrow-
webbed shoes ; broad-webbed shoes, he said, were most
" absurd things," adding, " Nothing more is wanted than
iron enough to protect the outward crust of the foot,
and to prevent its breaking." His idea was a narrow
iron bar, bent round, having the same thickness through-
out ; it is certainly far preferable to the wide webbed
shoe, which overloads the foot and gives no firm hold
upon the ground. Professor Coleman's shoe might be
styled a narrow webbed shoe, as also one or two others,
which need not be described, being now out of date.

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 125

The two shoes and systems of shoeing wliich have
most occupied the public mind are the " Chaiiier " and
the " Goodenough," and I cannot conclude this chapter
better than by endeavouring to analyse the merits and
faults in each of these. The first is known as the pre-
planter or French shoe — its inventor being a Frenchman ;
but before entering into a description of this method of
shoeing, I will give the grounds upon which M. Charlier
bases his theory.

Accepting as a fact that the unnatural work horses
are subjected to upon artificial roads is too much for the
hoof to stand, while the present system of putting on
heavy wide shoes after removing the constantly renew-
ing horn from the sole is a remedy worse for the foot than
any injury the hardest road could inflict — M. Charlier
thought that a thin light piece of iron let in roimd the
lower part of the crust, similar to a ferrule on a walking-
stick, would not only prevent the horn of the hoof from
breaking, but would prove a sufficient obstacle against
the wear of the hard roads. He therefore decided upon
the following plan of shoeing, from which, and the ac-
companing illustrations, the reader will doubtless be able
to understand what the merits of the contrivance are.

Using an instrument something like a square gouge
(Fig. 8, a), with a guide to prevent its cutting beyond the
required depth (b), the farrier scoops a rectangular
groove from the outer circle of the horse's foot (c
D and e). Into this groove is fitted an iron band,
measuring rather more than the thickness of an ordinary
horse-shoe, with less than half its width (Fig. 9, f and g) j

^ 4%

126 ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

Fig 8.

TO ILLUSTRATE THE CHaELIER SHOE AND SYSTEM.

A. — Square gouge for cutting groove in hoof.
B. — Guide to prevent the gouge cutting too deep.
C. — Bottom view of foot prepared for shoeing.
D. — Side view of foot prepared for shoeing.
E. — Section of foot prepared for shoeing.

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 127

this is secured by five or seven nails. The shoe being
thus sunk into the crust, the sole of the foot, which is
never pared, and the frog, are brought on the ground.
The shock of the constant concussion of the iron shoe
on the hard road is thrown into the wall of the foot,
and not into the softer parts of the foot, which are pro-
tected by the tough and elastic horn of the sole ; the frog
being also brought on the ground, allows the animal to
feel, and as it were to grasp, the earth in slippery places.
The shoe being thin and narrow, is said to have a certain
amount of elasticity about it, and, after a few days' use,
adapts itself to the natural shape of the foot, expanding
with its movement, and developing the frog, bringing the
whole foot into action.

Another advantage claimed by the inventor is, hav-
ing the holes into which the nails are driven made oval
instead of square, by which a rectangular nail, when
driven in, takes its shape, and so acquires a firmness of
hold that it would not otherwise have. I expect,
however, that the true cause of this departure from the
form of the old nail-holes is, that the extreme narrow-
ness of the web of the shoe will not permit the holes to
be punched in the usual manner, and therefore they are
obliged to be drilled through.

That M. Charlier has shown a considerable deal of
originality in the conception and in carrying out the
design of his shoe, no one will, I think, attempt to deny.
To me, his idea of a ferrule kind of horse shoe seems to
be a particularly happy one. But this, which should be
the strongest point — being the basis — in the Charlier

128

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

shoe, is unfortunately the weakest. Could the shoe have
been made to encircle the hoof, in the same manner as
the ferrule girds the stick, then its principal fault would
never have existed ; but as the thin iron band only reaches

G

Fig. 9.

TO ILLUSTRATE THE CHABLIEK SHOE AND SYSTEM.

F. — Bottom view of foot shod with the Charlier Shoe.
G. — Side view of foot shod with the Charlier Shoe.
H. — The Charlier Shoe.
I. — Iron baud it is made from.

the heels, and as it is an indispensable condition in all
horse shoes to possess a certain width of web, otherwise

ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 129

tliey will twist, or spread and break, the Charlier shoe,
through lacking this condition alone, would prove a
failure.

There are, however, other objections against its com-
ing into use, and these are, first — the difficulty of ever
getting farriers not only clever enough, but having
patience enough, to put the shoe on, a more than ordinary
obstacle, as the most casual observer will readily per-
ceive. The second objection is, that from the manner
the shoe must be fitted, just flush with the bottom of the
foot, that the sole will have to bear more of the horse's
weight than it is able to take. Third, the danger of the
groove for the shoe being cut so deep as to injure the
sensitive parts of the foot. Lastly, the difficulty, in the
event of a horse losing a shoe at a distance from home,
of having it replaced. These are all serious objections,
but I consider the most serious one of all is the liability
of the shoe to twist, break, and carry away with the
broken parts the portions of the crust to which they
had been attached.

Determined, however, not to be convinced by any-
thing less than satisfactory proof, I made inquiries if any
of our cavalry regiments had ever used the Charlier shoe,
and learned that my old corps, the 10th Eoyal Hussars,
had tried it four years ago at Aldershot, where they had
been stationed for nearly twelve months, I therefore
made a point of seeing Colonel Baker, whom I met at the
Army and ISTavy Club, St. James' Square, when I asked
him how the Charlier shoe had answered ? In reply, he
said, " Not at all. I had six horses per troop shod with

K

130 ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

the Charlier shoe when the regiment was at Aldershot,
and the experiment proved a faihire. They broke so
frequently that the horses' hoofs were nearly ruined in
consequence. I had to give it up after it had a fair trial
for six months," adding, "I like the system much, or
rather the principle, but the shoe is a failure."

Since then I learned that the Charlier shoe had been
tried in India with the 5th Lancers, my informant being
an old farrier-major of that corps, named Eichard Kemp,
who was discharged from the army in 1870, By his
account the Charlier shoe was so liable to twist or
break that the nail-holes were made in the sides of the
shoe, the nails being driven crossways through the sole,
and clenched in the middle of the foot. It was an
extreme measure to keep the shoe on the foot, and,
like all extreme measures, it proved a failure, the acci-
dents being as numerous as before.

The " Charlier," in my opinion, has failed in conse-
quence of its inventor attempting too much. "With
perhaps one horse in a score the Charlier will be a
great success, but not from any virtue or specialty in
the shoe, but simply from these horses having ]3ecu-
liarly well-constructed feet. A horse with an excep-
tionally thick crust to his hoofs, good frogs, and soles
to match in substance, will wear a set of Charlier shoes
for three mouths, but the other nineteen would pro-
bably not wear them as many days.

So much for the Charlier, and now I will refer to
the Goodenough horse shoe. If this shoe had been
worthless in itself, instead of being quite the reverse,

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AlTD NEW. 131

the patentees who introduced it to the English public —
viz. Frederic Eobinson, Esq., and Edward Cottam, Esq.,
deserve the gratitude of all who take an interest in the
humane treatment of man's noblest servant, the horse.
I know that, great as the existing ignorance of horse-
owners still is as regards the shoeing of these animals,
this ignorance was tenfold greater before that account
of the Goodenough shoe appeared in the " Times " some
four or five years since. The attention it called to its
assistance, and the consternation it caused among the
trade of farriers, would be difficult to describe. Un-
fortunately, here again, too much was hoped for, too
much attempted. The shoeing-smiths, as it threatened
their means of subsistence, were against the shoe to
a man, while many of the veterinary surgeons were
equally hostile from other motives. The latter gave
the shoe a bad name, and the former took care to put
them on the horses' feet in such a way that they either
came off or broke. Had the patentees simply tried to
preserve the fore feet of horses, and only turned out
fore shoes, the hostility of the smiths would, in my
opinion, have never assumed one-third the proportions
it did ; while the masters — that is, the veterinary sur-
geons— would have found employment for their men,
when they were not shoeing, in making hind shoes.
Still, as I have already remarked, immense good accrued
from the introduction of the Goodenough horse shoe into
this country.

The chief merits claimed for the Goodenough shoe
were its calks, its double bevel, and its narrow web.

132 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

JL

J)

Fig. 10.

TO ILLUSTRATE THE GOODENOUGH SHOE AND STSTEJr.

A. — Foot prepared for shoeing.

B. — Foot with shoe on.

C. — Goodeuough Slioe — ground surface.

D. — Goodeuough Shoe — foot surface.

ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 133

The calks or j^i'ojections, as will be seen from the
accompanying plate, were five in number, two nail-
holes being between each calk. As these projections
did not usually last over a week, while they took up
space which would have been better employed for fresh
nail-holes, when the crust had broken away, from any
cause, elsewhere, I think the calks were no advantage
to the shoe. The narrow web and its other advantages
I need not again refer to ; but the double bevel hav-
ing not been touched upon to a like extent, I will give
a short account of its merits. The bevel towards the
foot-surface prevents, in the opinion of many profes-
sionals, any unnecessary pressure upon the sole, and
old farriers even now carry out this principle to an
outrageous extent, when they, by what is technically
termed, " dish out the shoe." In my opinion, the bevel
inside is not of so much consequence as the bevel on
the ground-surface is. The latter prevents the picking
up of stones, as the sloping insides of the shoe on the
ground-surface afford no hold for foreign substances to
lodge in. The same peculiarity keeps, to a great extent,
snow or mud from hailing between the sole and the
iron, besides taking a better grip of the convex tops of
the stones with which the middle of our streets are
usually paved. The frog, by the Goodenough prin-
ciple of shoeing, is not allowed to be pared away. As
many of the streets are now laid with asphalte, and
others with wood-paving, the advantage of frog pressure,
in enabling horses to travel safely over such compara-
tively smooth surfaces, will be at once apparent.

134 ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

That a strong objection exists among farriers to put
on macliine-made shoes I will not attempt to deny;
but at the same time I feel confident these shoes must
ere long come into general use. I would suggest, how-
ever, that ironmongers should become shoeing-smiths.
By some means the men, when not employed putting on
shoes, could be working at other branches of the smith's
business instead of making shoes. I have drawn atten-
tion elsewhere to the ridiculous custom which assigns
to the horse-shoe maker a pre-eminence much above his
mate, who has to do the more particular part, namely,
fastening the shoe on to the foot. With machine-made
shoes this pre-eminence would disappear, as the " nail-
ing on " will then, and justly too, become the important
part. Another advantage horses would derive from
being shod with machine-made shoes is, that such
shoes cannot be tampered with in the same manner as
hand-made shoes are constantly done. An ordinary
shoe, when it has been worn nearly out at the toe, is
not always cast on one side, — far from it ; a fresh piece
of iron or steel is welded on the toe, the shoe gets a
fresh hammering, and on it goes again as a new shoe.
A farrier told me that this lack of adaptability would
always be against his adopting machine-made shoes.

But the benefit of machine-made shoes does not end
here ; they would ensure uniformity of weight, of con-
struction, and last, though not least, of price. At present
each farrier follows a particular fancy of his own, both
in making of shoes and putting them on, which, in most
instances, is injurious to the animals he shoes. And

ABOUT HOKSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 135

this may be plainly traced to the fact that, there having
been no system of shoeing in this country which has
shown its pre-eminence over others, every smith has
been at liberty to follow his own ideas, which, generally
being prompted by self-interest, so the plan which allowed
him most profit was usually adopted. Accordingly,
with cheap iron, cheaper workmen were introduced —
men perfectly incompetent often, for the duties they
had to perform. Then followed that the making of, or
putting on, a certain number of shoes was to constitute
a day's work, all above which M'as to be paid for as over-
time. Consequently shoe making and shoe fixing are
now merely questions of turning iron bars into a certain
circular shape, without reference to the form of feet they
are to go on, in the first case ; and in the second, it re-
solves itself simply into being able to nail on a shoe
without pricking the horse.

On the other hand, had there been all along a correct
shoe and a specific plan for shoeing before the public,
the self-interest of farriers would have driven them to
become acquainted thoroughly with the plan, as every
owner of horses would, among other things, be able to
see that an old shoe had not been put on again for a new
one ; a proper fair price for shoeing would likewise
speedily become general, and the incompetent and knav-
ish workmen would soon be forced out of the positions
they now occupy. At present, if the nails but clear the
qiiick, and the horse moves sound out of the forge, that
piece of iron which can be shaped and put on the soonest
is adopted, without the slightest consideration of what

136 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

the ultimate consequences may be to tlie animal — a very-
sad state of tilings, to say the least, which we have to
contend against.

There are not many horse-shoe factories in the United
Kingdom ; but the shoes turned out from all I have seen
are very creditable. Messrs. Shanks of Glasgow make
a shoe, the merit claimed for which is its durability.
This is attained by great pressure, the fibres in the iron
being driven so close together by the force of a ISTaysmith
steam-hammer, that the metal, when thus compressed, is
said to wear double the usual time. If this is the case,
of course lighter shoes could be made ; but those I saw
at Glasgow last year were wide clumsy affairs, that did
not contrast favourably with the hand-made ones I was
shown at the same time.

There are two or three factories where horse shoes
are made near Wolverhampton ; but I believe that the
Horse Shoe and Foundry Company, at Wellington Eoad,
Battersea, London, turn out shoes superior to any others
in the trade. Only one description of horse shoe is, how-
ever, made here ; but, as it is of an extraordinary good
description, I will give a short account of it. It is a ful-
lered shoe, having not only a bevel on the foot surface,
but on the ground surface as well. Machinery does
everything, — rolls the bars of iron, cuts these bars into
lengths, puts the fuller in, turns the shoes to proper
shape, punches the nail-holes, and turns them out ready
for use. I do not know the prices of them now, but
previous to the increase in the price of iron the cost of
these shoes ranged from Id. to 4d. apiece, at which they

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW, 137

were in great demand, not only at home but in India,
Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and on the Continent
of Europe.

Supposing, however, the average price now of a set
of four shoes to be Is. 4d., and allowing 3d. for nails, and
Is. 3d. for putting a set of shoes on, the cost to the far-
rier will be 2s. lOd. ; and, if we allow him 20 per cent
profit, the cost of a set of machine-made shoes should
only be about 3s. 6d. to the customer. I have not here
taken into consideration the value of the old horse-shoes,
but which can be safely put down at 2d. the set, to sell
for old iron, when their profits would, of course, be so
much more.

From a military point of view, machine-made shoes
would prove a great benefit to the service. The difiiculty
of getting good farriers in the army has been always, to
say the least, a very serious one ; for year after year the
difficulty has been increasing, and to this cause alone I
attribute the short period our cavalry and artillery horses
apparently serve. And if we reflect that troop horses
are purchased when they are only 4 years old, or even
younger ; that their forage is excellent in quality, and
sufficient in quantity ; that their work is light, being but
common exercise for them ; and that they are selected
by thorough good judges, assisted by practical men, such
as the " Army Veterinary Surgeons," it certainly ought
to surprise us to be told that cavalry horses only last, on
an average, between 7 and 8 years. Out of the army
a horse works for 12 or 16 years, and, properly, should
be in working condition for double that period ; for, by

138 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

natural laws, as a horse does not cease growing until he
is 7 or 8 years old, his life should extend till he is aged
35 or 40 years. A horse the Shah of Persia brought
over with him to England was declared to be over 50
years old ; and in India I was shown, in 1853, a grey
Arab, in a fort near Poonah, that had been ridden by
one of our officers at the battle of Kirkee, nearly half a
century before. With such facts before me, is it a won-
der I should blame the bad shoeing-smiths of the army
for much, if not most, of the mischief ; to the once tailors,
haberdashers, colliers, and clodhoppers, but now farriers,
who first lame the horses until they are unable to walk,
and then are cast and sold for a few pounds. In my
own regiment, the 10th Hussars, just before it went out
to India, out of 15 farrier-sergeants and shoeing-smiths,
there were only the farrier-major and two others that had
been farriers before they joined the army. One of the
remaining 12 had been bred a tailor, and, as a tailor, had
worked for the regiment. A second had been a collier,
a third a crroom, and so on through the dozen. No
less an authority than Lord Napier of Magdala, in
a circular dated from Simla, late in the year 1870,
directed attention to the incapacity of a large number
of army farriers and shoeing-smiths. And Lord Napier's
is no solitary opinion, as the following extract from a
letter written by the principal Veterinary Surgeon in
India will testify, the reason the letter was written being
as follows — Colonel Ptyves, of the Bengal Cavalry, having
written a useful little work upon horse-shoeing, some one
suggested that a copy of the book should be supplied to

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 139

every slioeing-smitli in a mounted corps. To this the
principal veterinary surgeon replied in these words :
" My experience of the farriers of the army is, that they
are, generally speaking, men entirely Avithout education,
save of a mechanical description, and that, consequently,
they are incapable of understanding or appreciating even
the most rudimentary instruction in veterinary matters.
TJie simplest language in which such information could
be conveyed to them would be a mystery to the majority ;
and I believe I am within the mark when I assert that
not one-half of the shoeing-smiths in the Bengal Army
can read their own language or write it legibly. With-
out good primary education, it is an impossibility to
convey technical language to any man, therefore I can-
not concur in the suggestion," etc.

Another veterinary surgeon, under the assumed name
of " Hippogriff, R. H. A." described so weU, in a paper he
contributed to the Veterinarian of November 1870,
the characteristics of different farriers he had come in
contact with, that I beg to quote some of his opinions :
" In all farriers," this writer tells " there is an absence of
method in conducting their duties when they extend
beyond the forge ; in some there is a want of confidence
in themselves, although (as he rather sarcastically adds)
never of presumption and self-conceit. Few possess
education enough to comprehend the simplest forms and
phases of disease, nor can the contrary, he thinks, be
expected, so long as no proper institution exists for
their instruction." In tlie sketches Hippogriff gives of
the farriers of whom he has had personal experience, he

140 ABOUT HOESE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

describes most of them as being " unfit even for slioeing-
smiths. Prescriptions, written in plain English, they do
not understand ; the weights and measures in use are
unknown to them ; the common names of the most
ordinarily used medicines are not remembered by them ;
compounding is to them an impossible perplexity ; the
administration of medicine is a difficulty ; their notions
of disease and lameness are curiously vague ; whilst
their method of procedure in the sick-box shows that
they look upon the equine patients as neither deserving
nor requiring careful nursing."

Now with such facts before us it appears a difficult
matter to understand why this state of things should be
allowed to exist ; why the authorities have not taken
steps long ago, either to get a better class of workmen
in the service, or educated the men they have up to the
required standard of technical knowledge. As the re-
cognised difficulty is being imable to get men who can
turn out a properly made horse shoe, the purchase of
machine-made horse shoes would solve half the hindrance
to the attainment of greater perfection among our army
farriers. Again, as the introduction of such shoes would
release one-half of these men to their duty, and as the
worst workmen would go, it would be comparatively easy,
then, for veterinary surgeons to carry on their duties.
The saving to the country would be likewise great, for
as there are about 500 farriers in the army at home,
any cause which would release half of them to their
duties in the ranks would prove an immense gain to
the State ; for less farriers means either so many more

ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW. 141

efficient men in the ranks, or so many less to be provided
for. If the former, the nation benefits by having 250
more cavalry men at home (and about the same number
abroad) to do duty, while the expenditure would be de-
creased by £4U00 per annum ; and if the latter, as all
the attendant expenses for themselves and their horses
would be saved, the gain would not be less than £40,000
yearly. In this I have not taken into account the ad-
vantage the horses would derive from being shod with
well-made shoes and by a better class of workmen, but
there can be no doubt, however, of the result being ahke
beneficial to the health of the animals and to their
longevity.

Again, how the hands of commanding officers, and
of veterinary surgeons would be strengthened, as they
would not liave to contend against half the evils which
bad-made shoes now inflict upon the horses, while there
would be an exact regulated pattern of shoe for the whole
army. The present regulation horse shoe in the service
is of faulty construction, as it has a calkin on the outside
heels of hind shoes, while the inside heels are drawn out
to a point similar in shape to the tail of a fish, a fashion
which makes a kick from horses so shod doubly dangerous.
I have elsewhere drawn attention to the injury that all
calkins effect, so I need say no more here upon that
subject, except to point out that if hind and fore shoes
were made alike, that is, the latter without heel-caulks,
it would be quite an easy matter to make a fore shoe, by
a few strokes of the hammer, serve for a hind shoe, and
vice versa ; when, instead of having to carry a spare set

142 ABOUT HORSE SHOES — OLD AND NEW.

of shoes, as at present our dragoons are obliged to do,
they would only require to have one pair attached to
their saddles, a matter of more than ordinary consequence
on a campaign, when every ounce of extra weight tells
upon their horses. That there are many deserving and
good soldiers among our army farriers I should be the
last to deny, but of really skilled shoeing-smiths in the
ranks, the number is decidedly a limited one ; and while
I allow that a man may be taught in the army the for-
mation of a horse's foot and how to fasten a shoe to it
in a proper manner, yet I doubt if a man, after he is
fully grown, ever learns to make a horse shoe properly.
In the British service there are schools of musketry, of
music, of fencing, and even of cookery, yet, strange to
say, there are no schools of farriery. In France, in Ger-
many, and even in Belgium, schools of farriery form a
part, and an important one, of the schools for cavalry in
these countries, and it is one of the most striking illus-
trations of the inconsistency of our military system, that
while it provides the best horses for the cavalry and
artillery that money can purchase, and spares no expense
afterwards for feeding and stabling them, yet in the im-
portant matter of shoeing, the poor animals are subjected
to tortures from being operated upon by unskilful work-
men, that renders them unfit for service although stiU
young.

In the next chapter I give a short description of the
" Chausee Horse Shoe," an idea of my own, which, I
believe, will be found worth the reader's attention.

THE CHAUSEE HORSE SHOE. 143

CHAPTEE X.

THE CHAUSEE HORSE SHOE,

The prevention of slipping has determined, more or less,
the shape of nearly all horse shoes of modern times, and
therefore I am not diyerging from the beaten track, when
I submit this new form of shoe to the consideration of
the general public. My idea is to combine an elastic
substance like gutta-percha with the iron shoe, which m
this way will, by its configuration and construction, be
specially adapted to prevent either slipping or concus-
sion— matters of more than ordinary importance in such
an invention ; which, however, although often striven for
previously by others, have never yet been to my know-
ledge, so fully obtained. The " Chaus^e Horse Shoe,"
like the " Goodenough " will be narrow webbed and
double bevelled, though, at the same time, I may mention
I do not attach so much importance to the bevel on the
foot surface, considering that in a narrow webbed shoe
it is not a point of such essential importance as the bevel
on the ground surface is. The chief pecuharity of the shoe
will be a groove, wider at the bottom than the top, into
which a wedge of gutta-percha can be inserted after the
shoe has been fastened to the foot in the ordinary
manner.

144 THE CHAUSEE HORSE SHOE.

The union of an elastic substance with the metal,
after the shoe has been attached to the horse's foot, has,
so far as I can learn, never been attempted before, but
the advantages of such a combination are, in my opinion,
so evident, that they scarcely need mentioning. It is
well known that the mere act of a horse putting his
metal shod feet to the ground does not wear out the iron
to any great extent ; what does cause the extraordinary
rapid wear is the slipping of the shoes upon the stones
with which the streets are paved. But for this slipping
even a lii^ht set of shoes would last for three months,
consequently, when the extra friction is removed, the
necessity for any description of heavy shoes would dis-
appear as well.

In the horse shoe I recommend there will be two
substances, that differ not only in their densities and
weights, but also in other and more important particu-
lars. While the one is heavy and the other light ; the
former hard and capable of taking a high polish, the
latter comparatively soft and lustreless ; the iron
slippery, the gutta-percha the reverse ; yet it is only
in such opposite qualities wherein we may hope to find
a prevention to slipping and concussion, the prolific
causes of so many injuries and diseases, of strains to the
muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the joints, as well as
of ringbones, splints, and spavins — -all attributable to the
two causes named above.

The gutta-percha wedge in the "Chaus^e" shoe
would effectually prevent slipping, as it would always
be flush with the iron rim on each side of it ; so the one

C

THE CHAUSEE HOESE SHOE.

145

substance would assist the other ; the iron preventing
the too rapid wear of the softer gutta-percha, and that
would in turn, by its adhesion to the ground, assist the

Fig. 11.

THE CHAUSEE HOKSE SHOE.

A B. — Line of section.
A. — Upper part of groove.
B. — Lower part of groove.
c. — Bevel on foot surface.
D. — Bevel on ground surface.

other to wear longer, besides enabling the horse to lift
his feet up and put them down again without sliding
about, as he is only too often obliged now to do with the
ordinary shoe.

The evil effects of concussion, — of the firm hard blows
from the ground, striking through the iron up a horse's
leg that is being driven fast along the road, cannot be

146 THE CHAUSEE HORSE SHOE.

over-estimated. Such common results as splints, spavins,
and ringbones, I have already referred to elsewhere, as
well as to another and more fatal disease known as
foundered feet, due to the same cause — concussion. I
have read somewhere that the meaning of the word
foundered is lioof-moUen, the name probably having
arisen, from an idea held by old farriers, that the disease
was owing to the melting of the fat in the horse's body,
and thus falling downwards into the feet. I may also
mention that there are two diseases of foundering to
which horses are liable, the one affecting the chest and
shoulders, the other the fore feet ; the last of which, how-
ever, I will only refer to here.

It is allowed that the cause of this disease proceeds
from too violent exercise over hard roads, and that young
horses are most liable to it ; of course all combined with
heavy wide webbed shoes, fastened on to mutilated feet.
We have only to imagine a horse so shod being driven
at a fast pace along a turnpike road, to recognise the
ruinous results which must follow. Iron, is, we all know,
a rapid conductor of heat ; and if we wished to make
it hot, except we put it into a fire, no better plan could
be adopted than constantly hammering it, — the very plan
carried out when a horse is driven rapidly over the hard
stones of our streets and roads. The fast pace alone
would cause a more than ordinary determination of
blood to the feet, and when this is supplemented by hot
heavy shoes, and soles pared so thin that the heat must
pass readily upwards, can we, or ought we, to expect any
other conclusion than that the internal parts of the

THE CHAUSEE HOESE SHOE. 147

horse's feet should sufifer from inflammation, or, as it is
termed, " foundered ?"

Narrow webbed, light, and elastic, the Chausee
horse shoe would, if put on as I have recommended,
effectually obviate all the ill effects of concussion, besides
securing a foothold for the animal that no other shoe could
give. Meant to be machine made, it would be attached
to the foot by nails in the usual way. The groove,
widest below, would still be large enough to admit the
heads of the nails within it, and after the nails had been
all driven, drawn up, and clenched, a strip of softened
gutta-percha would be taken and laid in the groove in
precisely the same manner that a glazier applies putty
to a window frame when he is fixing in a pane of glass.
Some cold water then, thrown over the foot, will suffi-
ciently harden the gutta-percha, previous to which,
however, the farrier will have cut away with his knife
any portions that protruded beyond the edges of the iron
groove.

The gutta-percha would effectually prevent the shoe
from slipping, and when supplemented by frog pressure,
a horse so shod could be galloped over an ice-field with
safety. The elastic substance, preventing concussion,
would prove likewise an immense benefit to all horses
that from hard work, etc., had got shaky, or, as we term
it, "groggy," on their fore legs.

The foot of the horse being formed on the principle
of combining great firmness with great elasticity, and as
the common iron shoe partly nullifies the latter, it will
be easily seen how much this will be obviated by the

148 THE CHAUSEE HOESE SHOE.

use of tlie Cliaus^e shoe. We put on iron to adapt the
foot for a harder surface than the horse finds in his
natural pastures, and so far we may have acted wisely ;
but it is evident we should interfere as little with his
natural action as the necessity of the case requires. As it
is, the iron must, to a considerable degree, bind the foot
and deprive it of not only expansion but much elasticity,
and therefore the gutta-percha comes here to the assist-
ance of nature, helping to recover the lost elasticity
which the iron shoe had subverted.

When it is considered how great the weight is that
the feet of a powerful horse has to sustain, and how
violent must be the concussion at every step the horse
takes upon the ground when rapid velocity is added
to this weight, common sense must teU us that elasticity,
in every part procurable, is the only quality which can
combine ease, protection, and security, with great power
of speed ; and as this will be all afforded by the new
shoe I here recommend, its many advantages will be
apparent to all.

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF KIND TREATMENT. 149

CHAPTEE XI.

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF KIND TREATMENT UPON HORSES.

Before closing tliis essay I would fain say a few words
more, not so miicli with regard to horse slioeing, but
more respecting the horse himself and his treatment.
In an experience of this noble and affectionate com-
panion of man, now extending considerably over a quarter
of a century in three parts of the known globe, I have
found him at all times and in aU places especially sensi-
tive to kindness, having never had occasion to use any
other treatment even with the most vicious animals,
and I pity that man who can regard his horse with any
other feeling than one of affection ; for the person that
treats him as a friend finds a delight in his work, that
others destitute of the like consciousness can have no
idea of As the companion of man and his faithful
friend, the horse ranks with the dog or the elephant.
He certainly may not evince the attachment to his
master that the former does, nor perhaps can instances
be given wherein he has ever exhibited the sagacity of
the latter, but the fault is not his. Were he as assidu-
ously waited upon by his groom as the mahout attends
to his charge — never absent from it day nor night, the
horse would in aU likelihood become as docile and

150 BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF

intelligent as the elephant, and if his master petted and
caressed him as much as he did his dog, and was as long
and as often in his company, doubtless the attachment
between them would become as great. As it is, when a
horse expresses his pleasure at the fineness of the
weather or the elasticity of the turf on which he treads
by a kick or a gambol, the feeling is promptly repressed
by the application of whip and spur ; for what is play
in a dog, in a horse is regarded as vice. And if we but
reflect how harshly often this best of animals is treated
by mankind, how severely he is worked, and frequently
how badly fed, it is a wonder as a rule the horse has not
sunk as low as the ass. To the latter we attach an idea
of slowness, stupidity, and degradation ; but if we go to
the East we shall find there that the ass is regarded as the
type of bodily strength and vigour. In the Scriptures
Jacob compares Issacher " to a strong ass," * while in
the Proverbs we are told, " a whip for the horse, and a
bridle for the ass."-|- According to our ideas this last
should read, " a bridle for the horse, and a whip for the
ass ; " but in the Eastern countries, where he is treated
well, the ass goes as free, if not more freely, than the
horse. The cause of this difference is not diflicult to
discover ; ill-usage and neglect would in time have the
same effect upon the horse as it has had upon the ass ;
it would make him slow, stupid, and degenerate.

When a horse is tenderly and kindly looked after, it
is difficult to form any conception of how interesting
and intelligent he becomes, watching his groom's every
* Genesis xlix. 14. t Proverbs xxvi. 3.

KIND TREATMENT UPON HORSES. 151

movement in tlie stable, day after day, and week after
week, until Lie knows as well as the man himself what
is next to be done. How patiently such a horse will
stand to be cleaned or saddled, and how eagerly will he
turn round to have his head groomed, or to be bitted,
and how gratefid is he for but a crust of bread, a hand-
ful of oats, a mouthful of hay, or even a kind word,
when spoken in a kindly tone by his master. When
such a man enters the stable the horse receives him with
a neigh of welcome, pawing the ground with his fore-
foot until the master is alongside of and pats him on
the neck encouragingly. As good masters make good
servants, so do good kind grooms make good and affec-
tionate horses. I do not mean the man who makes the
horse's coat shine like satin, for drugs will give him a
glossy coat while they undermine his constitution. I
refer to the groom who, in addition to the lustrous look
of the animals in his care, is never heard yelling at
them to " stand over," or " come round," who is assi-
duous in his attentions upon them ; who, recognising in
them the possession of virtues and passions, and but
scarcely less reasoning powers than he possesses him-
self, will never even commit an outrage upon their feel-
ings, far less deny them merciful treatment.

Farriers, from the trouble they occasionally have
with a young horse the first time it is shod, come to
look upon all horses as being stupid to an extent which
they think puts the animals completely beyond the pale
of either kind or considerate treatment, and such is the
deadly stupifying influence of custom, that these men,

152 BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF

perhaps not naturally inclined to acts of barbarity, yet
live insensibly in the constant commission of the most
cruel actions, without being apparently aware of their
conduct. So it is not uncommon to find them wilfully
torturing poor horses, who, having suffered ill-treatment
often in a forge, shrink fearfully away from any one
that wears a leather apron. Like the NeajDolitan
peasant, who lived in a village noted for robberies and
murders, when he went once to confession, and having
told the priest that on a certain fast-day he had
swallowed a draught of milk, assuring the father he
could I'ecoUect the commission of no other sin. "What ! "
said the confessor, " have you never assisted in the
robbery and murder of travellers in the hollow road ? "
" Oh ! yes, certainly," was the peasant's unabashed reply,
"but then that is so common with us that we don't
make it a point of conscience." As I was remarking,
the farriers may be compared to this peasant, for with
them cruelty comes to be regarded more as a thing for
the display of mirth than of sorrow. One of these,
more brutal, doubtless, than his fellows, when reproved
for twitching a horse till the blood sprang from its
nostrils, replied with a couple of oaths, that " you are
making as much bother as if the horse was a Christian."
The most fruitful source of misery to cart-horses, is
their being committed into the hands entirely of their
drivers, the majority of whom are the most brutal and
ignorant of that class of society to which they belong.
You will see these men — for the brutal mind is always
prone to tyranny — glutting their vindictive disposition

KIND TREATMENT UPON HORSES. 153

upon tlie poor animals under tlieir charge, whenever
they themselves are found fault with, or even should
they be out of temper with something else.

These fellows further indulge their petty vanity and
conceit upon their poor horses, and if one of them, for-
sooth, be offended at the figure or condition of the horse
he drives, he will first endeavour by lies to set his
master against the animal, by declaring, falsely of course,
day after day, that the horse falls down, or that he won't
back, or any other complaint equally plausible. I
know a man, now, who having a horse given to him
which he did not approve of, not only over-drove it, but
gave the poor animal so little to eat that he actually
fell down in the street from excessive labour and want
of sustenance. Feeling confident that the rascal was
starving his horse, I went early one morning, after the
horse had just been fed, and found that the manger was
filled with chopped straw. When I spoke to the fellow
about it, he coolly assured me that the horse preferred
it this way, adding, " whenever I give him any oats with
the chopped straw, he leaves nearly all the oats at the
bottom of the manger." What can be done with such
men ? Is horsewhipping not too good for them ?

There is another cruelty horses are subjected to,
especially in London, where there are so many bridges that
toll has to be paid at. To make sixpence or a shilling,
to be spent probably in drink, carmen will drive their
horses miles round, and as they may have to be at their
destination by a certain time, the horses with their
heavy loads are driven at a pace far beyond their

154 BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF

strength, in order to make up the time lost in going the
greater distance.

With coachmen, again, how frequently do we see one
of them whipping one of his horses the whole length of
a street ; * and for what ? simply because the horse may
have trod in a hole and stumbled, or slipped with his
wide webbed shoes on the greasy pavement, in either
case a misfortune for pity, not a fault for punishment.

How pleasant it is to turn from these disagreeable
details of the treatment of horses in our own land, to the
manner of usage which Asiatics in general, but particu-
larly the Arabs, bestow upon their horses, never using
whip or spur, but by caresses and talking, treat them as
if they were animals largely endowed with reasoning
qualities ; and well is this repaid by the superior docility
and affection shown by these steeds for their riders. The
question is, could not as much care be bestowed on our
young horses if the gain is so great? I think so, and
will endeavour to tell how.

There is probably no animal gifted with greater
simplicity, and yet naturally so timid as a young horse.
Whether it is the system of over-isolation, when keeping
it in the meadow at first apart from mankind, that is
the principal cause of this, is a subject that need not be
entered upon here ; so, contenting myself that the fact
exists, I will endeavour to point out why the simplicity

* The case, tlie other day, of Lady Abingei's coachman is one
in point, — he brutally flogged his horses because her ladyship had
spoken to him sharply ; thus venting his spleen upon the backs
of the animals he was driving.

KIND TREATMENT UPON HOESES. 155

should be cultivated and the timidity subdued. A colt
or filly that has never been away from the stable wherein
it was foaled, or the grass field in which it was reared,
is not likely to acquire either the vice of kicking, rearing,
or bolting when there, and as its only probable inter-
course with man has been when it was caught and
haltered for some purpose or other, its timorousness in-
stinctively increased. We find it, therefore, when pur-
chased by the dealer, to be very foolish in its ways, and
very fearful of strange things ; but as it is also gifted
with great trustfulness, it is no sooner made to believe
that the person or the thing seen will not harm it, than
the timidity lessens and soon entirely disappears.

Working upon this knowledge therefore, we have
only to use caution and kindness to make the young
horse fearless, gentle, and confident, and it is at the com-
mencement of the tuition where the greatest care, tender-
ness, and thoughtfulness are required. The young horse
does little at first, and it is during these few weeks' in-
action in loose stalls that much can be done in getting
it to understand what it is required to do in simple
things, such as giving its feet up to be washed out,
lowering its head to be groomed or the collar taken off,
to stand over in the stall, or to come round in it when
spoken to, and such like. It should always be spoken
to in going to stables and when leaving them, and called
by some particular name, the shorter the better, by the
use of which it will quickly learn who is meant, A
horse soon learns to know its master's voice ; and, child-
like, prefers a gentle firm tone to a rough buUying one.

156 BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF

The harsh command or oath of an ill-tempered man
grates as much on the sensitive ear of a young horse as
it would on the ear of an infant. The latter would show
its displeasure by squalling out ; the former, most likely,
by lashing out with both heels at the person who had
terrified it ; but you- cannot speak to it too much if you
do so kindly ; whether it be to give you up its feet, to
come round, or to stand over, let the voice be used, ac-
companied by a wave of the hand indicating the direction
meant. Whenever it does' what is wanted, it sliould be
" made much of," by patting it on the neck, for it likes
being caressed, and will endeavour to deserve such
treatment.

When the young horse has been taught thus much,
it should next be taught to allow its collar to be taken
off and put on quietly. All horses, and especially young
ones, are particularly sensitive about the ears, and the
slightest hurry or rough usage at first, done through a
moment's forgetfulness, may take months to undo.
When the collar is wanted to be taken off it should be
opened to the fullest extent, and getting the horse's head
as low as possible, the collar should be then passed over
very gently, and if this can be done without touching
the ears so much the better, and the same care is to be
taken when putting it on. If this is managed skilfully
for two or three weeks, the worst of that part of the
business is over, for the animal, finding that it has noth-
ing to fear, will confidently push out its nose either to
have the collar taken off or put on.

At the first, second, and third shoeings, equal, if not

KIND TREATMENT UPON HOESES. 157

greater care must be taken, and I would advise every
owner, when possible, to be present himself on these
occasions, for I can assure him the trouble will be amply
repaid.

I shall now conclude with the sincere wish that as
education extends among the human family, the regard
and esteem for the horse may also increase, so that, before
long, it will be the duty, heartfelt in all men, to strive to
lessen the toil and make life as pleasant as possible to
man's best friend, the horse.

INDEX,

Age of horses, 34

Agricultural shows, prizes for

shoeing, 62, 103
Aldershot Camp, the value of

ventilation, 82
Astley, Philip, remark of, 1

Back Sinew, or Flexor 'pcrforcms
tendon, 22, 37, 59

Baker, Colonel, opinion of, 129

Barrel, compared to a horse's foot,
58

Bars, the, 22, 25, 26, 33, 42, 49,
57, 58, 59, 89

Bartlett's prescription, 79

Bearing reins, the danger of, 2

Bedding horses down in the day-
time, ill effects of, 14

Beranger, remarks of, 12

Bevans', Mr., horse "Hue and
Cry," 65

Binders, sec Bars.

Blundeville's opinions, 124

Brushing, or Cutting, 83, 96, 97

Buttress, 47

Calkins, injurious effects of, 67,

70
Carmen, tyranny of, 1, 52
Cattle shows, 62, 103
Cavalry horses, 81
Charlier horse shoe, description

of, 125-130
Chausee horse shoe, description

of, 143-148
Clark, Mr., opinions of, 57
Clarke's, Bracey horse shoe,

115
Clean foot, a, what is meant by,

50

Clenches, injurious effect of rasp-
ing the, 55

Clicking, or Overreaching, 98, 99

Coachmen and Grooms, 6, 8, 9, 78-
154

Coffin-bone, 32, 36, 38, 84, 91, 94

Coleman's horse shoe and opinions,
114, 120-122, 124

Coles' patent horse shoe, 122

Concussion, 1, 45

Contraction, 14, 55, 83, 86, 91

Coolness and cleanliness, import-
ance of, 77, 92

Corns, cause and cure of, 42, 83,
84, 85

Coronary band, 23

Cottam, Mr., 131

Cover for the horse's feet, 2

Cow-dung, use of, injurious, 78,
80

Cruelty to horses, 2, 43

Crust or wall of the horse's foot,
21, 23, 25, 26, 30, 33, 53, 54,
57, 59, 88, 89, 90

Cutting, cause and cure, 83, 96,
97

Dropsole, causes of, etc., 43, 83,
89, 90, 92

Extensor Tendon, front sinew, 37

FARRiERS,their general knowledge,
6, 32 ; how they should be in-
structed, 102, 111 ; charges,
52 ; fees, 8 ; day's work of, 48 ;
fitting shoes, 18 ; firemen, 46,
50, 105 ; doormen, 46, 50, 105 ;
tools, 73 ;

Farriers in France, 46

160

INDEX.

Feet of young horses, 56

Fiaschi, 57

Fitzwygi'am, Colonel, opinions of,
15, 118

Fleming, Mr., shoe of, and opinions,
119, 120

Flexor perforans tendon, back-
sinew, 22, 37, 59

Foot, action of, 27, 60 ; descrip-
tion of, 30, 58

Foot of the horse, component
parts of, 19 ; interior parts of,
35 ; section, description of, 26 ;

Foreman of Glasgow Veterinary
College, 103

Foundered feet, or Laminites, 99,
100, 146

Frog, the, its uses, 21-22, 27, 30,
33, 39-42, 49, 57-59, 84, 89-91,
93 ; drawing of healthy, 49 ;
drawing of unhealthy, 49 ;
sensitive, 36, 39, 90

Front sinew, or Extensor tendon, 37

Glasgow Veterinary College,

foreman of, 103
Goodenough horse shoe, 131-133
Gray, Mr., shoe of, 76, 118
Grease, injurious effects of, 17, 78
Greasy heels, cause of, etc., 42,

83, 86, 91, 92
Greaves, I\Ir., experience of, 44
Groom, to measure a horse's feet

after each shoeing, 94
Grooms and coachmen, 6, 8, 9,

78, 154

Harris, Mr., horse shoe of, 116
Haycock, Mr., horse shoe of, 118
Heel-calks, injurious effects of,

67-70
" HippogrifF," extract from paper

in Veterinarian, November

1870, 39, 139
Hope, Sir William, Perfect Farrier,

79, 112

Horn, its elasticity, 3

Horn of the hoof, importance of

the natural varnish that covers

it, 54
Horse, intelligence of, 150, 154-

156

Horse's foot, curious malformation,
87, 89, 90

Horse's foot, description of, 1, 17,
84, 89, 108-109, 110

Horse's hoof, 2, 26, 82, 38

Horse Shoe Company, Battersea,
136

Horse shoe shewn at the Inter-
national Exhibition, 87

Horse shoes, their antiquity, 12 ;
see also Shoes

Horses taken good care of, 7

"Hue and Cry," Mr. Bevans' horse,
65

Indiarubber frog, 123
Interfering, or Cutting, cause and

cure of, 83, 96, 97
International Exhibition, 87

Jarvis and Haggar, Messrs., cure
of their horse " Captain," 85

La Fosse, M., opinions of, 94,

113, 121
Lamina3, 32, 38, 90-91, 94
Laminites or founder, cause of,

etc., 99, 100, 146
Lanty, Mr., horse shoe of, 116
Lawrence, Mr., opinions of, 70, 71
Litter, injurious for horses to

stand upon, 80, 86
London and South-Western Eail-

way Company, remarkable

specimen of hoof prociu'ed

from, 89, 90
Lunette shoe, the, 113

Machine-made horse shoes, ad-
vantages of, 133-136

Military horse-shoeing, 137-138,
140-141

More, Sir Thomas, 3

Napier, Lord, of Magdala, re-
marks of, 138

Nailing on of horse-shoes, 51-53,
62, 96

Nails, pointing of, 51

Navicular bone, the, 37, 91, 93

Navicular disease, cause of, etc.,
14, 42, 83, 93

Norris, Mr, 85

INDEX.

161

OsMER, Mr. , shoe of, and opinions,

57, 114, 119
Over-reaching or clicking, 98, 99
Owners of horses, duties of, 9,

16, 17

Palmer, Mr., horse shoe of, 117
Pan ton, horse shoe, 112
Pastern-bone, lower, 91, 93
Pembroke, Lord, opinions of, 11,

57, 81, 124
Perfect Farrier, Sir W. Hope's,

79, 112
Persia, horse of Shah of, 138
Pringle's horse shoe and claw, 121
Pritchelling, back- 51
Pumice feet, cause of, etc., 43, 83,

89, 90, 92

Qualities of the horse, 1
Quittor, its cause, etc., 83

Railway Co., L. & S.-W., remark-
able specimen of hoof procured
from, 89, 90

Rasping, bad effects of, 53-55, 87,
96

Ringbone, its cause, etc., 42, 83

Robinson, Mr. P., 131

Rodway's horse shoe, 76

Rogers, Sir John, screw shoe of,
116

Rotche, Mr., patent horse shoe of,
116

Ryve, Colonel, book on horse-
shoeing, 138

Sandcracks, cause of, etc., 83,

92
Shoe, width of web, 65; box-seated,

43 ; fullered, 76
Shoeing, bad, 1
Shoeing, French system, 46
Shoeing horse, 31, 41, 43, 48, 50,

57, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66
Shoeing, price of in country, 47,

48 ; price of in London, 47, 48 ;

to farrier, 48,
Shoes, fitting, 51 ; fitting red hot

65

Shoes, temporary advantage by
changing the farrier, 52
patent, La Fosse, 113
,, Bracey-Clarke, 115
„ Charlier, 125-130
,, Coleman, 114

Coles, 122
,, Col. Fitzwygram,

118
„ Fleming, 120, 121
,, Goodenough, 131-
133
Gray's, 118
,, Harris, 116
,, Lanty, 116
,, Osmer, 114
Palmer, 117
Pringle, 120-121
,, Rotche, 116
,, Sir J. Rogers, 117
Woodin, 117
machine-made, 133-136
Shoes, horse, wide and heavy, 4,

5, 42, 44
Sole of horse's foot, 29, 33, 36,

49, 57-58, 91
Solysells' Perfect Farrier, 79
Speedy-cut, its cause, etc., 95

Tar, its inutility, 40, 78
Thrush, its cause, etc., 41, 42,

44, 83, 86, 91-92
Tools farriers use, 73

Vegetius, remarks of, 12

Veterinarian of November 1870,
extract from, 139

Veterinary Surgeon (chief in
India), opinion of military far-
riers, 139

Virgil, remarks of, 12

Wall of the foot,or Crust, 21, 23,
25, 26, 30, 33, 53, 54, 57, 59, 88-
90

Water, the great gain by using
plenty of, 15, 40, 77, 80-81

Woodin's patent horse shoe, 117

Xenophon, remarks of, 12

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