Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-06
THE DAILY RECORD-UNNN.
SHOULD HORSES BE sHoD9

The ouestion of shoeing horses is dis
cnssed at length in Frdser's Magazine.
The writer thinks that horses are now worn
out at least fourteen years before tney
ought to be, and that IN tols tne onted
Kingdom loses 1915, 900, 600 every twenty
one wears. Different causes Tor the injury
of horses are mentioned, but the writer
thinks that abuses of their feet are most
serious. and he asks: Ii the working OF
the traditional system leaves the horse a
wreck almost before he has reached his
prime. if the lessening OF the weight OF
iron and of the number of nails used III
fixing the iron has been followed by direct
and important benefits in every instance,
If even those who hold that horse must
be shod have discovered that that which
thew look on as protection to the fore
feet is merely harmful to the hind feet, is
it possible to stihe the suspicion that this
insignificant remnant of a system SO fruit,
full in mischief may have no magic power,
and, in short, that the horse may do just
as well without them?" In his reply to
this he SAYS: "The plain truth IL, that
differences in the quality OF soil-be 1t
hard Tor soft, stony or sandy, smooth or
slippery-are of comparatively little I'M
portance to the horse whose feet are as
nature made them. In the words OF free
Lance. the uushod horse can successfully
deal with all roads; and assuredly no one
will dream of asserting that shod horses
can do this, for on the setting in OF frost,
for instance, they cannot be worked until
certain ceremonies have been gone through
at the blacksmith's forge. The unshod
horse can tread firmly on the slime OF wood
payement when shod horses are slipping
and struggling in agony around them; he
can gallon on ice, and trot for miles to-
gether on the hardest and toughest flint
roads. with far more ease and comfort than
horses whose feet ale shod with iron, or
even with gutta- percha. Free Lance
rightly remarks that If they could not
there would be an end of the thing, for
evidently the horse should be able to go
anywhere and everywhere, and at mo-
ment's notice. 1t seems hard to produce
the conviction that the natural sole OF the
horses foot is almost impenetrable, that 1t
is so hard and strong as to protect the
sensible sole from all harm, and that all
feet exposed to hard objects are made
harder by the contact, provided only that
the sole is never pared. This adequacy OF
the horses foot to all demands that may be
made upon it is forcibly illustrated by
Bracy Clark, who, like MIR. Douglass and
Mr.. Mayhem, contented himself with
striving to produce perfect shoe, although
he acknowledges that if we wish to appre-
ciate the full beauty of its structure, we
must dismiss from our views the miserable,
coerced, shod foot entirely and consider
the animal in pure state of nature using
his foot without any defense Probably
Mr.. Clark thought that, though we may
consider it in its natural state, few can
ever SO behold it, as all horses in civilized
countries are in greater or less degree
brought under artificial conditions. The
plea is fallaeious. The horse is clearly
intended by nature to serve as domesti-
Gated animal; and SO long as we do not
interfere with the proper functions of any
part OF its body land the abomination OF
bearing reins and other such practices in
terfere with them grievously and even
fatality, we bring it under no conditions
which it was not desiguedly calculated to
encounter. Private owners and companies
whose horses must be numbered by troops
are naturally irritated by the accidents
constantly occurring on smooth and Shiny
pavements or on rough and hard stone or
flint roads, and in their disgust they now
offer rewards for the invention of shoe
which shall render the horse Indifferent to
the materials over which he has to pass,
and have clamored for uniform system OF
pavements in all towns. 1t seems strange
indeed that no misgiving seems to cross the
minds that they are taking thought Of the
wrong surface, and that they are scared by
false terrors when they dread the contact
of the unshod hoof with sand, granite,
flint, wood or asphalt. 1t cannot, indeed,
be too often repeated OF too strongly in
sisted on that the foot of the horse in no
way needs to rest on soft and yielding
surfaces"