Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-19
HOT HORSESHOES.
ARE THEY PAINFUL OR INJURIOUS
TO TIE ANIMALS HOosl
Red Hot Shoes Never Used on Any -
Mr. Ronner's Horses - What the
Blacksmiths Have tn Say of the
Doubtful Practice.
New York SsIn. J

II IL a practice with blacksmiths every.
where To i.old hot shoe against the hOof
for al insian, while the hoof Is between
the smiths knees The visitor standing
IN the open doorway Of blacksmith shop
may see the operation any day in city or
country and from the volume of smoke
and steam that rises he is quick TO imagine
that the operation is painful to the horse
Is it either painful or injiIriousy The re-
porter asked Robert Bonner this question
the other day.
WHAT Mr.. BONNER SAYS.
Il cannot answer the Gues lion. because
l have not seen a red hot horseshoe
touched to q horses hoof in dozen
years was Mr. Banners reply. How.
ever. | do not believe that any law II nee
essary to do away with the practice
There is a device invented by myself
good while ago and adopted by several
horseshoers which does away with the
necessity of using hot horseshoe. The
advantage Of hot shoe lies In its
marking the inequalities in the hoof so
that the smith can see what portions he
must pare of to make it fit the shoe. II
follows that il both the shoe aud The hoof
are absolutely level and smooth they will
nj each other exactly, and the shoe can
be rsiled to its place. My device con
sists in hammering the shoe on the anvil
until II fits fat on piece Of marble ground
to true level After the shoe is level the
horses hoof. is pared and then rasped to
fit the shoe
"There is shoe Maud s. wore when
she made her 2:O9f record" added Mr..
Bonner. rising from his chair and picking
up shoe from four or five in . corner Of
tL~ ho 4. q.
. Partisan manikin Of q horses hoOf.
You see. he added. as he placed them
together. that you can't see daylight be-
tween them. can not see why oil horses
can not he shod in this manner. Pre-
sumably the reason shoers do not uni.
,ersally adopt this device Is that q little
more time and care are required. Whether
horses are positively injured by using red
hot shoes l do not know A careless smith
might ruin horse by burning the hoof
too deep and by causing cracked hoof.
but really do not believe the evil could
be prevented by law
BLACKSMITH q OPINIONS.
A stalwart shoer ON Seventh avenue
was holding horses hoof between his
knees and applying hot shoe to it As
he squintcd first on one side and then on
sAS osuVt w sCHt ts1O H. vi WIG ouOC, uC
listened to the reporters question, and
dropping the smoking hoof, replied
1T doesn hurt horse to burn his hoof
any more than II hurts you to pare your
finger nail II is possible. Of course. to
burn the hoof to the quick That is both
painful and dangerous. for the hoof may
be ruined. No smith who knows his
business will do that aud l believe there
are few who do It A smith would not
do Il twice for the same horse owner.
Horses In the country may have their
hoofs burned with less danger of serious
results than city horses. because country
horses can 60 longer without shoeing.
shoes are knocked OF quickly on city
pavcments. and careful handling u
1t would be difficult to put
cold shoes on drsught horses so that they
would not work loose The difficulty
lies in making close connection between
the hoof and the shoe To work In cold
iron would require so much time that
half of the smiths would have to 20 out
of the business. and the half that stayed
would have to charge three times a.
much as they do now TO make both ends
meet"
A scientific shoer on West Thirteenth
street said.
-There can be no objection TO using
hot shoes. unless the smith is very care
les. and I believe there are very few
luch. The advantage Of applying the
shoes hot is to get . fit quickly. The fit
must be q Close as possible to prevent the
shoe from working loose and also to keep
foreign substance from getting between
The shoe and the hoof In either event
he horse may l,e lamed II would he inn.