The morning call., 1893-10-15

There Is a shoemaker whose shoes are not lodtucfp
But all the four elements put together-
Fire. water. earth and air
Every customer has two pair. -oid riodie.
l took Madame to one Of these shoe
makers the other day-Madame, whose
four round, compact, perfect feet are
sound as nut, whose broad. open hooIs
never picked up a stone in the whole course
of their years of travel on country roads
and city streets. who never "interfered"
or "struck" or "forged" in her life, whose
pedal extremeties. in fact, present about
the simplest problem to the farrier that
can we'll be imagined.
Madame is easy on shoes. Good horses.
rightly used. are apt to be, and the irons
on her feet were not worn out, but they
had been on for four weeks, and that is as
long as horseshoe ought to be allowed to
remain without setting up. This last is an
operation in which 90 not see any econ
omy. 1t consists largely in pulling off the
half-worn shoe, trimming the horses foot
down to fit it and mailing it on again. 1t is
better and. in the long run. cheaper to
have new shoes made and fitted to the
hoof.
Madame, L say. went to the shoemaker
whose shoes are not leather, with as
sound and well-conditioned feet as any
horse need ask for. The smiths lnstruc-
tions were to shoe her for the saddle, and
to set the heels of the hind ieet up little.
More than this | did not deem il necessary
to say to a man whose sign proclaimed
him to be practical farrier," especially
as be had shod this particular animal reg.
ularly for some months. But my practical
farrier turned Madame over to a journey
man in the shop, in token whereof
Madame stands In the stable with four
comparatively useless feet. while l am
turned journey woman, performing my
journeylngs upon my own feet. albeit L
once was wont to ride on Madame's sleek,
fat back.
When I went to inspect Madame's feet.
one by one, on her return from the far
rier's (and never fail to do this very thor
ougnly before using herr. was
filled with anger and grief at the
sight that met my gaze. Where
once had been broad, tough, elastic frog.
forming a natural cushion to break the
conclusion of the foot in striking the pave
ment. was a small. neatly pared wedge OF
tender horn, Whitfield down to very fine
point. The sole of the foot had been CHS
eled out until the ball of my thumb,
pressed anywhere, made an linden tation in
the tender quick of the hoof. Around the
edge of this excavation broad, 16-ouDce
iron shoe had been nailed. AS no part OF
the frog reached the ground the animaps
entire weight, good thousand pounds,
rested upon the outer edge of each hoof,
circumstances that readily explained the
stableman's remark that "the mare wants
to lie down in the stall all the time; we
can't keep her up"
No wonder she wanted to lie down. Who
would not. if standing meant the bearing
of his entire weight on the toe nails?
On the hind feet were f0urteen-ounce
shoes, each with great heelcalk formed
by turning down the ends of the iron
shoes that would have been appropriate
on the feet II horse pulling dumpcart,
but sadly ont of place on the feet of
light saddle animal, and the feet had been
filed down all arOund to make neat fit.
went down and argued with that sci
entific farrier. He told me at first that
that was the way to shoe horse, but
when / had convinced him that knew
better lie called the journeymau, who de-
clared ''The frog was that rotten it had
to be cut. l couldn't do nothin' with it."
This, when the farrier himself had at the
time the animal was brouRht in pro-
nounced her feet fright soundF
Argument was useless. The mischief
was done, and as the journeyman idiot bad
only done what in some quarters is pro-
nounced correct hOrSeshoeing there was
nothing to be done except to have set Of
shoes made and put on, under my own su-
| pervision, that would in some degree ease
| the pressure on the walls of the hoofs.
! But the incident set me thinking about
| the feet of these servants of ours who do
our work so uncomplainingly. mo feet,
no horse" is the saying among horsemeD.
and correlated with it is that other saying,
| intensely ridiculous, that zone horse will
| wear out four sets OF feet"
| There is great deal of needless mys-
terry thrown around the subject of
| horses feet. Men who have a clear un-
deTstanding of every other portion of
the equine anatomy plead ignorence of
| the foot without seeming TO feel the
| slightest cOmpunction In so doing.
There is no excuse for this ignorance.
The horses foot is no more complicated an
organ than his hip or thigh; not half so
| intricate as his fore leg. which any
! horseman is willing to undertake to care
| for. As compared with the human feet it
| is a simple structure indeed; but possibly
| that comparison is unfortunate, for our
| imbecility in dealing with our own foot is
| about the only thing that will parallel the
! ignorance manifested in the care of those
of the horse. The horses foot has few
bones; its vascular system is very simple;
| its parts are not many. and the use for
which nature designed esch is quite ap-
parent. There are only four with which
| the horseman need be familiar. These
parts are: The wall. the sole, the frog and
the bars. The sole has two divisions
the outer aDd the inner. The
former guards the plantar surface of
of the foot from confusion, and helps the
walls TO sustain the animals weight.
while in the inner. sensitive sole is located
that sense of touch whereby horse "feels
his way" along the road and adapts its
tread to the nature of the foothold beneath
it. A horse in travelling literally sees with
his foot. so far as the road is concerned, a
provision of nature that is fortunate for
him, as, what with overdraws and blind
ers, we have rendered it quite impossible
for him 10 count on any aid from his eyes.
The inner sole is exouisitely sensitive.
| like the "quick OF the finger. nail, and
the blacksmith who cuts down upon it in
trimming" noof, a very common
practice in the guild, does SO at the risk
OF exposing the animal to keeDest torture
IN travelling. This pairing process. the
] reason for which no farrier can explain
| intelligently, is prolific source of disease
in the horses foot, and of premature break
ing down and going lame IL leaves the
foot liable to bruises and c0ncusson, and
renders it super-sensitive aud brittle.
| The exposed new horn Of the sensitive
sole dries and hardens, an excessive de-
mand is made upon the secretioDs that
produce this horn, aud the foot early falls
| into decay.
| The frog is the triangular growth of
horn which, beginning at the back of the