The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-06-12
TRorTlMe HORSES.
The Growth and Development
of 7 his Animal.

look after ones horses, not only from
hum unitarian point of view, but from
it's practical business side. Tho horse
properly fed, properly cared for, and,
above all, properly shod, will look
better, work better, and if in the
market will sell better. 1t is only
under the refining influence of civiliza
ton that men and horses are shod.
The way it is generally done adds
credit and lustre to his often difficult
feat of keeping his legs. All owners,
ladies included, should superintend and
criticise work done for their horse, for
groom, stable men and blacksmiths as q
ru 10 are the most careless and yet most
astute shirkers of their duty. Every
horse lover admits that the crying evil
Of the day in the equine is bad shooting
or ignorant and slovenly blacksmithing.
Such an exquisite piece of mechanism
as the horses foot can be most cruelty
tortured by the mistake of 1-1OOth of an
inch, and yet most smiths hack and
chop it as if it were all as hard as steel,
whereas the only really hard part is the
on ter she'll.
When q certain science is passion
Whtu q ndnt ouQ WIOH uo HAS lOVlHHlY
and conscientiously devoted thirty years
of hard study to it, when he possesses
every book written on the subject in
any part of the world and sleeps with
| them in reach Of his bed, that man
knows whereof he speaks and mis- opin.
ion is worth having. All this applies
to Robt Bonner, who probably knows
more about horses feet and horseshoe
ing than any man living.
The great secret of successful shoeing
is, keep the foot level. A true hoof is
usually sound hoof, and this simple
rule is universally ignored. Keep the
foot level; there is the love of hundred
veterinary colleges in that sentence.
Now as to the dreaded navicular dis
ease, no man can tell, or ever will be
able to tell, whether horse has navicu-
lar or not unless he dissects the foot
Fully two thirds of the alleged navicu-
lar diseases are merely sufferings caused
by improper shooting, and in hundreds
of cases horses that show Lam eness, and
are taken to the blacksmith, are shod
for lameness in the foot. When the
true facts of the case are that
tho lameness is in the shoulder or
in some place above the hoof. And
now about SPAWN. 1t is far tocom
mon, and is brought on by the most
n
the part OF people whose duty it is to
look after horses. 1t is absolutely im-
possible for ahorse to throw out q spa in
unless he is too long in the toe. The
prevention therefore, is the easiest of
matters.
AS for shooting city horses, if properly
done, horse can go over hard cobble
stones and asphalt and keep his feet in
proper condition. But it is seldom
| properly done, hence the extraordinary
| quantity of lameness, smashed feet and
strained tendons. city horse, whether
| for coach, car or draft purposes, should
| have three calks on each shoe, one In
front and two behind, the 'front.' calk
should be about half an inch from the
end of the shoe. Level the foot prop
erly and apply the shoe and the animal
will trot with confidence and comfort;
and countless accidents and falls will be
prevented.
A general miscopception is the popu-
lar impression that running or a trot-
ting horse lands flatfooted. This should
be corrected, for man should know ex-
actly how the foot WORKS. In both run
ming AMI trotting, as tho foot lands
hrst the heel strikes the ground, then
the toe two distinct motions, and so
wonderfully quick that the foot seems
to land fiat
A horse should have its weigh evenly
suspended and none OF the sole should
touch the ground. The foot is elastic
and contracts and expands, the frog
being especially porous and elastic.
Anything that tends to bind the foot is
undesirable. The trouble is, very few
blacksmiths understand the contorma-
ton and structure of the horses foot,
and how can man fit horse under
such circumstances? He tries to shoe
all horses alike and makes no allowances
tor differences of confirmation which,
although OF the highest i'm portance, are
by him regarded as unworthy of notice.
Y on can search the world over and find
no more important topic. 1t is simply
amazing in this advanced age in this
age of inventions that SO little attention
has been given to the subject OF horses
feet and horses shoes. What little
well.directed thought there is has been
in unitarian rather than a humane
direction. How to get the most speed
or the most work has been the question,
rather than how to impart the most
comfort to the horse and save him from
misery And how he has suffered.
am not practical horseshoer, bmt l
have studied it. 1t is profes sion
which deserves to rank higher than
dentistry and on par with learned pro-
fessions
Is it not easy to see how horses must
suffer to-day under the manipulation
of the blacksmiths? The average
blacksmith looks at a horses foot,
then looks at his array of shoes sup
ported from the rafters overhead, and
takes down those he thinks are about
right, nails them on to the hosres feet,
and cuts the foot down to fit the shoe,
instead OF fitting the shoe to the foot.
The glazed covering of the hoof is rasped