Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-11-26
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HORSE SHOElNG.
A Government Veterinarian Tells How
Not to Do 1t.

"A Government veterinarian Tells HOW
Not to DO 1t.
Without wishing to do injustice to
our rural knights Of the anvil. 1t is
nevertheless lamentable truth that
these votaries of the buttress and draw
ing lrnife are, all the world over, so
welded to number Of traditional prac-
tees, 80 heinous, so irrational so pre-
judicial to the interests Of the horse and
his owner, that one might be well ex-
cused for wondering whether their mis-
sion were not to mar instead of to pro-
tect the lnsrvelously perfect handiworls
of the Creator, Ignorant alike of the
anatomy, physiology and economic rela-
tons OF the parts they mutilate, they
cut and carve as within, prejudice or
time honored custom dictates. Disaster,
it may be slowly, surely follows, and
all too often the poor dumb creatures
suffering foots the bill. Let us glance
in passing at some of these traditional
practices.
Foremost among them is the insane
habit of trimming the frog and thinning
out the sole till it visibly yields to tho
pressure of the operators thumbs. The
frog is natures cushion and hoof ex-
pander, placed there by an allwise hand.
By its elasticity it wards off conclusion
from the less elastic portions of the
structure, and by its residence (springi-
ness) assists In maintaining the natural
expansion of its horny ambit, that is to
say, 1t does SO in its natural state, but
the drawing knife's touch is fatal to it.
Once cut and carved and deprived Of
pressure, those very acts cause it to
shrink, dry and harden and at once lose
those very attributes which constitute
its usefulness to the foot. Robbed Of its
elasticity and residence it is incapable of
discharging its allotted functions-both
as cushion and rs an expander 1t Is a
dead failure, indeed it Is worse, as In its
altered character it is now menace in
stead of a protection, bane rather than
a booa to the foot that wears it.
The destruction Of this important fac
tor having been thus provided for, the
operator probably next turns his atten-
ton to the sole, which, by all traditions of
the craft, must be pared down until only
n thin film Of soft, partially formed horn
is left to protect the living structures
within against injury from the substances
with which the foot necessarily comes in
contact. Nor does the mischief stop here.
The sole itself, or what Is left Of it, con-
sists now of soft, moist, half formed
horn, which dries and shrinks on expos
ure to the air, and thereby entails a fur
Their and still more serious injury to the
boot.
The incompetent workman does not
stop here in this work Of destruction, but
next addresses himself to the self i'm
posed task of improving upon nature by
removing the bars, and what he calls
"opening" the heels, a process which, in
plain language, means opening road
for them to close over. On this poor
manned foot shoe, often many sizes
| too small, is tackled, and the rasp is
most likely called into requisition to
reduce the foot to fit the shoe, for al.
though it is apparently Of little moment
whether the shoe fits the foot, it is indis-
| pensably necessary that the foot should,
somehow or other, be got to fit the shoe,
and horseshoeing, like all other arts,
must needs sacrifice on the altar of ap-
pearance. 1t is sad that art and nature
should SO often be at variance, and that
what satisfies the one should outrage the
demands Of the other.
The foot is now shod and protected
from undue wear, to be sure, but at what
a sacrificed Robbed of its cushion, its
natural expander; its lateral braces re-
movedj its sole mangled and its natural
repair arrestedj the hairlike fbers which
made up the horny wall crushed, de-
| Elected, and their nutritive function i'm
peded by an unnecessary number of nails;
robbed by the rasp of its cortical layer of
natural varnish, which retains the mois-
ture secreted by the economy, the strong
walls become dried up and weakened and
the foot is very sorry plight indeed.
To some this picture may seem over
drawn, but it is nevertheless a matter of
daily occurrence.
OF course, even among agricultural
horses, there are individuals which can
not work unshod; but these are exception
al cases. Then again, in winter, when
the usual snowfall is wanting, most
horses feet will require protection; but
nowadays an owner has himself to blame
if he submits to having the work done in
that wrongheaded and ridiculous man
ner, which has called into existence such
long and dismal category of disease
and misery.
The horses foot is, after all, good
deal of what we make it, and if our
horses from their colthood up had their
feet more carefully attended to, and es-
pecially were they invariably to stand
while in confinement on some material
less deleteriOus to the hoof than dry
wooden flooring, from which the foot
suffers no attrition whatsoever, and by
which it is moreover depleted of its nat
ural moisture, their feet would, in the
period Of the animals active usefulness
be found to be better shaped, harder, less
brittle, and in every way better suited
for the work required of them.-William
Dickson, United States Bureau of Ami
NAL Industry.
Mules.
1t is not many years ago, says the Ne