The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-09-18

- Il
Many (but not a1D smithshops in the,
country are mere places whore they
practice mailing clumsy bent pieces Of
ironto the bottom Of horses feet, mainly
that by having sharp projections npon
these the horse may be prevented from
clipping when the sroads. are covered
with, ice. II il quite common that
country horses 60 to the shop. with feet
grown well forward and downward; be-
cause upon the soft titled ground, or,
better still, the carpeted pasture, there
is but little wear upon the farm horses
foot, and It grows apace. Now, to
properly trim down . hoof greatly
elongated by this process of growing
forward and downward, the, trimming
should be done mainly on the bottom
Of the hoof. So much OF it should be
done there a. can be done without get
ting too near the sensitive portion of
the foot A horse upon pasture during
much of the season, and upon plowed
ground much Of the remainder, Will
have grown upon the bottom Of the
hoof . thick layer. This requires .
very sharp tool to shave of, and most
smiths are careless about keeping their
buttress sharp enough for this work,
and for this reason, and on account OF
the greater ease which attends chipping
on the toe, after having set the shoe
back from the point Of the hoof, the
average smith win practice this mode.
Now, little .reAeotion7 will enable
anyone to see that this kind of trimming
win cause the pastern joint to be too
much hexed, the toe, being unnaturally
elevated through the failure to cot away
the undue thiekening upon the bottom
of the hoof in its front half. This set
ting of the shoe back from the toe, as
stated, involves the cutting away. usually
in . very rough manner, Of the surplus
which projects forward of the shoe. II
also involves large amount of rasping
upon the face of the hoof, which should
in no case be tolerated. This undue
destruction Of the crust of the hoof is
one Of the very worst features OF this
kind of shoein9, because . hoof 30 mu-
tilated upon its face dries out, becomes
feverish and brittle, loosing its elias
ticity. .fefe 7al 2afa ts'' 'Fs Z g =
During many years that we have
kept horses for farm and other work. il
has been our custom to stand by the
smith in cases requiring this watchful-
ness. exacting that the surplus growth
be removed, so far as was consistent,
from the bottom Of the foot This be-
ing done, we have required that the
shoe be set close forward 10 the edge OF
the hoof, being shaped to suit the shape
of the hoof, allowing no rasping of the
face of the hoof, neither any cutting
away at the toe after the shoe was
fastened. except merely to- trim of
points, these sometimes appearing. We
much prefer that the edge Of the h0oi
shall besleft projecting beyond tho shoe
an eighth or even . fourth Of an inch,
rather than the face of the hoof receive
q touch from the heathenish rasp. And
we will add that AN objection. 10 this
mode of shoeing,s ranking equnl with
any yet named, is found In the aboniha-
BILE practice Of driving nails 90 far back
into the body Of the hoof as to come
close to, and many times enter, the
sensitive portion. twill readily be seen
thst the shAe cannot lbe Get Tar back
without fSndeFing il quite necessary ID
place the nails far back in the foot, too
Tar for safety. - Exchonge. sus,s9 ".