The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1880-12-04
HoW to Shoo Horses.

Hew to Shse Horses.
IT NAV interest some of your reader
to learn my method of shoeing. Will
there have been great improvements il
almost every thing else during the pas
quarter of century, have noticed lit
tie, If any, improvement in horseshoe
ing.
/ started to learn the blacksmith
trade in 1858, and have never done an,
thing else. lclaim to be expert at al
kinds of carriage work and horseshoe
ing. Some peonle say that a carriag,
ironer can not know how to shoe /;
horse. l can give you the names o
hundreds of the best citizens of Cha,
County, Mo-, who will testify to my ca
pacity as q horse.shoer, and after you
have read about my method you car
Judge for yourself.
For the past eighteen years l have
been constantly shoeing horses, and have
learned the ways of several States and
Canada, and | assert positively tina,
there is only one way to shoe horse SC
that he will travel easy and at the same
time keep the hoof sound. Some may
say that all horses can not be shod in
the same way, but l claim they can.
Allow me to describe the method / use,
and l believe you will agree with me in
the statement just made. If the follow
ing instructions are carefully followed
the result will be satisfactory in every
case:
First, take good sixteen.inch rasp
and rasp down the foot level, watching
that the heels are not cut down too low.
After the foot is trimmed to the proper
shape, l use a knife to smooth it, and
never cut the braces of the foot, for they
are the strength of it, and never use the
knife on the frog, for it is the heart of
the foot. The frog sheds off once in
two or three months, when the foot is
in healthy condition. The frog is in
tended for q cushion, and the larger it
is the better. When horse trots he al
ways strikes the heels to the ground
first, and if he has a large frog exposed
to strike first it will naturally lessen the
jar to the leg, and operate to keep the
heels well spread. On the other hand,
if the frog is cut out what is left be-
comes SO dry that it can not be cut with
knife, and the heels shrink together.
After having trimmed the feet, as
have stated, to the proper size, l select
shoe just large enough t.. cover the
foot, and then shape it to fit. Applying
it to the hoof, l watch that the hoof is
scorched only just enough to show the
uneveness of the foot, and then with 4
rasp or knife smooth true. In this way
l never fail to fit shoe properly. If the
shoe is fitted correctly the heels are al
WAYS we'll spread out. If the shoes are
too long the heels will be drawn to-
gether, and the foot being thus pinched
it becomes contracted and results in a
lame horse.
Next, the shoe should always be con-
cayed on the fore feet. Never put hind
shoes on the fore feet. The shoe should
bear only on the outer rim of the hoof,
and watch that it bears equally ali
around and not simply on the toe and
heel. If these directions are followed,
the horse will never be troubled with
lameness in the feet, caused by improper
shoeing. If the shoe is not left on more
than sixty days, bruises or corns can not
form in the houf.
Now, a word about driving nails
Nails should never be driven high, and
then in six or eight weeks the foot will
have grown sufficiently to enable the
sheer 70 cut out the old nail holes, leav-
ing sound hoofs. II the nails, however,
are driven high, at the next shoeing the
hoof will not have grown enough to cut
down to the old nail holes, and the water
and mud will soak into these old holes
and cause the hoof to become rotten and
brittle.-A. Larock, in the blacksmith
md Wheelwright.