Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-08-11
ABOUT HORSES FEET.

EDS. RECORD kkHIoN l am greatly pleased
to see that people are talking more abou,
horseshoeing. read an article on the subject
ia your paper. In many things agree with
Il, IN Others differ. / am not able to write
out heightened essay on the subject, but I
leave my forge few moments to say few
words on the subject, many years of expert
ence and some study of the ubiect being. 1
hope, sufficient to give my words some
weight, especially as my earliest study of the
foot of the horse was made as sheer under
direction of some of the best veterinary sur.
geons of the English cavalry force, to which
was attached. / hold that no man should at.
tempt to shoe horse who is not familiar
with the formation of the hoof. and think
he ought to have knowledge of the anatomy
of the horse generally. Now, sirs, this is
easily had, and any horseshoer, il he wants
TO, can study it and know all about it. You
kHoy, probably, that the outside wall of the
hoof can be contracted in shoeing, and know
that it Is very often. A tight-ftting shoe,
or narrow thoe, is a damage to the
horse. But worst Of all is the hot shoe.
Some shosrs even put the shoe to the horse
red hot-just think of that red hot when
fitting. Now they ought to know that to
burn and shriyel the hoof injuries all its
textures, to say nothing of putting on a shoe
so warm that it contracts in cooling. A man
who has good horse should never allow the
hot shoe to touch his horse. The "hot shoe +"
IS the old style. l know it is hard for the old
school to get over it. It seems to me to be 80
unnatural that / can't see how anyone can
DO 1t. What is the result of the hot shoe. /
will try to tell. It makes the hoof brittle
1t lessons its elastic quality; it induces con-
traction in the heels; it gives the horse dead
frogs instead of springy ones, able to resist
heavy blows on the pavement. The frog ia q
cushion or pad to receive heavy blows and
protect the hoof. Lastly, it tends to cripple
horses. Ii you put bit of soleleather on q
hot stove, what will be the result? Yet q
horses hoof is more tender and yielding than
soleleather, and will more easily crimp up.
Then again, the horse should be shod accord
ing 20 his weight and power Of limb Then,
zoo, the frog should not be cut away as is
too often done now. II is like unto the root
of a tree, and injury to it will cause
the hoof to die. l hold that short shoeing
binders tie growth of the foot. 1t causes the
horse to shorten his step and lose speed. The
action Of the horse depends mainly upon the
front feet. In common with a few others l
do not recommend the large toe.and-heel
calks. If they are high it is like putting the
horse on stilts There is no bsnefit in it.
Many men say the horse can pull more with
them. Now let them study the action of the
animals knees, when pulling heavily.
and they will see that it most depends on the
knee. It is with his knees that he does the
most gripping, by bringing the forward
muscles to greatest tension, while supple
menting them with those of the hind legs.
At any rate, the hee!-calk should never be
higher than the toe-cslk, else the horse is
liable to be "knee-spruBg." It also is in
furious TO the fetloek joints Of the hind legs,
making them "knuckle over" and Civ
ing the horse an awkward appear.
ance. Ordinarily horses should be shod
once in five weeks, at the outside, for the feet
need, by that time, some pairing down and
leyeiing, as where shoes are used this is
necessary to keep up the natural growth, and
keep the feet sound, for it is better to have
ali surplus growth trimmed off, than have it
break off. The question as to whether
horse should be shod, or not, is great one
now. What appears to me to easily answer
it, is, to leave him without shoes, and work
him at the same time every day, until you
mud the feet are getting sore. and the hoof
wearing down to the nerve" OF the frog.
This has been tried in dry climates, and the
feet became so ihard that they broke off in
sections up to the quick. 1t has been tried
10 wet climates, and the feet became 30 soft
that they are sensitive clear to the nerve.
bslieve in shoeing, but the horse
should haye plenty OF room In the
shee, and the shoe should not be
nailed too tightly. I would like to say
something, too. about handmade and ma
chine-made nails. l am for the latter, and
find the very best to be the very cheapest.
The handmade nail loosens in its hole,
because it scales off. but on that
and other matters would have to write
again. I don't want to be understood as
saying horse-shoers are all wrong in their
practices. There are plenty of good aud
competent ones, but we can all study the
horse more closely, with profit to US all, and
get away from wrong notions of the old
school. Horse-shoers are like other men,
and will do pretty much the kind of work
horse-owners want them TO do, and these are
too often ignorant of how horse should be
shod to do his foot tine least injury.
r. n. JOHNSTON.