The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-11-16
TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM =
NO. 81
Shoes VS.. Barefooted Horses.

Among the few radical ideas THAT find oc
generally could not only do without shoes, out
would in fact be better off without than with
them And to prove that the theory is sound
one, the statement is frequently made thai
more horses are injured by shooting than for
tie want OF it." claim that may be strictly
and literally true, and yet be of no consequence
whatever, as far as the correctness of the posi-
| ton is concerned.
| OF the horses injured by shoeing, quite
| percentage OF the injuries comes from too lit
| tie shoeing-that is, the work is not done often
enough; and another large proportion is IN
the case of such horses, and would be nearly
or quite worthless without shoes. 1t is quite
probable, in fact, beyond dispute, that many
horses fall into the hands OF unskilled or IN
competent workmen, and are cruelty injured
by the operation OF shoeing, but even such
cases occur mainly because shoeing is actually
necessary, and only go to prove that shoelng
should be understood and properly done, not
,, dispensed with. A comparatively few horses
do perform satisfactory service without shoes,
some because they have extra good feet, some
because the climate, nature OF the roads, soil,
and surface OF the country generally admit OF
going without shoes, and a few because they
have extra moderate and careful usage, as if
going barefoot was the browning feature of
equine excellence of profit. On this after
point a pertinent Illustration occurs just here.
A man who was never much noted for en-
ergy or celebrity OF movement had horse
which seemed to mate him exactly, as regards
gait and temperament. When any one drove
up behind hun, Us one not already ahead of
him invariably must if going the same di-
rection and on the same road, his sterotyped
salutation was Drive on by you feed more
corn than | do" Apparently this man valued
mis- horse and its services by the amount OF
grain that it did not eat, and so, too, there are
those who give their horses large credit for the
expense of shoeing that they are able to save.
For those who have time and patience to use
horses so carefully that grain or shoes, or both
can be dispensed with, there is present say
ing, tangible and computable, but whether
there is real gain may be quite another
pleasure, and that is found to be in an inverse
ratio with the expense, the more cheaply they
can be kept the better, perhaps; but where
horse is kept for the sake OF the profitable SER
vice he can perform he must be literally dealt
with and provided for.
The team that must be driven slow, or loaded
light, because they are not shod, not only
~, -
and other help, the amount of whose labor is
contingent on the work done by the team.
For instance, it would take my team just as
long to take forty bushels of wheat to market
without shoes as to take sixty or more when
well shod. A greater and a more frequent diff
ference occurs in drawing hay and grain from
distant parts of the farm since the time for
going and coming is about the same, anG the
getting hands on the NOW and off again Just
the same for half load that it would be for a
full one 1t is by no means an extravaganza
statement to say that in this or any similar
section of country, where there are stones.
hills, and frequent spells Of icy roads in win .
ter, three horses on an average would be re-
quired to do the work, without shoes that may
be easily and safely performed by two with
the assistance of shoeing. But to argue that
because these things are 50, horses every
where and under all circumstances should be
kept shod, would be abused. Neither is it
any more reasonable to claim that horses gen
orally could go without shoeing, simply be-
cause there are sections aud circumstances in
which the shoeless method is the better one
THE Husb01ldna0n.