The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-31

1t is allowed on all sides and by every
authority that the common diseases of
the hoof are the result of shooting, ard
yet it is equally certain that but very
few horses in our manner of using
them can work continuously without
shoes. The object of a rational treat
ment must, therefore, be to prepare the
feet and shoe them in such a manner as
not to interfere with nature more than
is necessary.
When iron is nailed upon living or
ganism there is an interference with the
processes of nature, and the method
employed should be careful and thought
full. The whole English-speaking
world bears witness to the abuses of
hOrse-shoeing, unintentiOnal for the
most part, but the result of ignorance
and the practice of tradition and rou-
tine. There are 10000, 600 of horses in
this country that are continually shod.
The cost must be at least ten dollars
each, making tax on horse owners at
500, 100000 per annum. If this is also
an injury to the efficiency of horses, as
some contend, it is time it was abolished.
or better method discovered. Some
horses with especially strong feet can
travel without shoes, large number
can be used part of the time with bare
feet, others with weak hoofs must
always be shod.
1t is no valid argument to point out
that the most civilized nations of ancient
times in Southern Europe did not shoe
their horses. The fact that they did
not is attributable to other reasons than
ct i,,;, +h,, g
the laborious work that we now put
upon horses was then performed by
asses and mules, while horses were
only used for war and light work.
The light soft soil of those coun-
tries, too, had much to do with the fact
that shoes were not used. When the bar
barians, however, swept down from the
North and overran the Southern coun-
tries they brought with them, among
other customs, that of protecting the
hoofs of their horses by pieces of iron.
The necessity of doing this arose with
them from the hardness of their frozen
grounds and the length of the winters.
They found that the front portion of
the hoof was the part liable to wear
down, and, accordingly, a method was
invented of mailing the iron shoe on in
such way as to protect it. We at the
present TIME are likewise obliged to
shoe our horses, and by so doing we
increase their utility thousandfold.
This being so, the question at once
arises, how can we do this without in
juring the feet? l may remark right
here, with perfect truth, that the
American farriers or horse-shoers, are,
with the possible exception of the
French, the best in the world. Prof.
Wood, in a lecture delivered in
this city q short time ago, described
very wildly the abuses existing, as
he claimed, among American far
riers. Now, as matter of fact, the
abuses mentioned by him exist almost
wholly in England and not in this
country. He pointed out that one
great evil was that the back parts of
the horses shoe were raised in such
way as to depress the toe unnaturally
and cramp the whole foot Just as
woman's foot is cramped and injured by
the wearing of high-heelcd shoes. This
evil is one that exists in England, but
fortunately is not found in this country.
Another practice quite common in En-
gland is that of fitting the shoes upon
horses while red-hot, and burnin.r
them, as it were, with the hoOf. The
great evils Of such practice can Only
be appreciated through a correct I'm
Outstanding of the anatomy Of the
horses foot. From u Lecture M 20
Z. Russell, IN Boston.