Morning journal and courier., 1889-11-25

general ignorance all conduce to perpetuate the practice and to entail on the horse pain and punishment that all shoeing causes. Half tried experiments and those made with out due appreciation of hard hoof have aided more than anything else to convince the skeptic even against his will that sheeing is absolutely imperative. Reform can only come by appealing to the horse owner; by showing him how he is losing money and valuable service by the practice; by address ing his interest rather than his love for his horse.
 The following practical demonstration of his position is given by Lieutenant Park hurst: Every day for nearly two years the writer of this has been thrown in contact with the horses of Light Battery F, Fourth artillery. All the old horses but one have been unshod during all this time, and the one shod horse has simply toe plates upon his hind feet to protect a weak and diseased hoof, the result of abusive shoeing. These horses stand at least five hours @ day upon picket line as hard ss broken stone can make it; not hoof, save those of the one horse mentioned, is diseased in any way, and there are none but are 30 hard that knife will hardly cut them. These horses have been drilled daily, Saturdays and Sundays excep- ted, from April to November, at all gaits, and for at least two hours day. Besides this they have marched frequently upon all AAAo5 OA AOoNo, oAeA oNAAAS oAA eA2io pAA44o AASe horse hes been made sorry from being un- shod.
 A lot of new horses were received in July, 1888. The shoes were removed, the horses were put on the picket line, and almost all went lame at once. Toe plates of steel were put on their feet, and they were made grad ually accustomed to the hard picket line by hard with stones They were all used more or less at drill during this time, and soen their feet began to show a new form and to approach to natures model. The frog grew and expanded and rested on the ground at every step; the sole became hard and dense; the walls became hard and tough instead of hard and brittle; chipping stopped; the bars grew out, and one by one the plates were re- moved, until now not one remains, and these horses tread as fearlessly and as painlessly over rocks and stones as do the old ones. All this was done in less than six months.
 In the briefer discussions following Lieu tenant Parkhurst's article Calvary Captains Vessels, jr., and Moore substantially agree with Parkhurst. Captain Earl D. Thomas makes his horses do without shoes as much as he thinks possible, but he believes there are times when horses must be shod. At the present time in Oklahoma, he writes, my horses are mostly ba1efooted, but I shall take good care that they are shod in front before the fall encampment. have horses that can march four miles an hour and at the rate of forty miles @ day for five days unshod over this kind of country; there are others that connot go five miles, no matter how much care bestow or how often sub- ject them to the stone pounding process. Families of horses transmit to their progeny unsound, weak and thin-walled feet. .. The secret then consists in removing all shoes whenever practicable, using light shoes and learning all about the capacity and history of each horse in your care.