Faults to be avoided.

[Fig. 29] shows a hoof in which shortening of the toe has been effected not by reducing the ground surface of the wall, but by rasping away the wall in front of the toe. This should not be done with any good foot, but it may be adopted with feet having an unnaturally long toe and no superfluous horn on the under surface. A "stumped-up" toe is very ugly and it weakens the hoof in front.

Fig. 29.—A "stumped-up" toe.

Uneven bearing surfaces are easily produced by a careless use of the rasp. One side of the wall may be made lower than the other, one heel may be reduced more than the rest of the foot, or one side of the toe may be unevenly reduced. In [Fig. 30] the foot presents an uneven surface which not uncommonly results from careless work. The parts over-reduced are those most easily reached with a rasp. The near foot suffers at the outside heel and inside toe. The off foot at the inside heel and outside toe. A left handed farrier would injure the feet in just the opposite positions.

Fig. 30.—Uneven surface.

Another fault results from holding the rasp untruly. If we suppose the inside heel of the near foot to be under preparation and the farrier inclines his rasp too much inwards, he leaves the wall at the heel lower than the sole within it. On such a foot a level shoe rests upon the sole instead of upon the wall, and a bruised heel soon follows.

Paring away the sole to produce a deep concave appearance has another evil effect in addition to that before pointed out. It removes the horn just within the border of the wall, taking away the natural support, and leaving as bearing surface for a shoe a narrow ridge instead of a strong flat surface. [Fig. 31] shows this fault, and it must be remembered that this ridge may be left as thin as a knife edge. Such a ridge cannot sustain the weight of the horse, and when it yields the shoe also yields, the clenches are raised and the shoe becomes loose.

Fig. 31.—A Pared-out Sole.

Excessive rasping of Wall. The best farriers—those most proud of their work—have a great temptation to use a rasp too freely to the outer surface of the wall. The hoof gets rough, or it may be ridged, its appearance is improved by being made smooth, and it is only human to turn out work which is clean and neat. Owners and grooms are rather inclined to forget the claims of the horse when judging shoeing, and the result is that some harm is done by excessive rasping. A strong foot does not suffer much, but its strength is preserved by leaving the hard outer surface intact. Rasping off an outer layer of horn favours evaporation and hardening of the underneath layer, and the toughness so desirable is to some degree replaced by hardness and brittleness. Excessive rasping below the clenches is even more injurious than rasping above them. The wall, between its bearing surface and the clenches, has to withstand the contact of the shoe, and the perforation by nails. It should be the toughest and strongest part, and, therefore, should not be rasped more than is necessary to lay down the clenches and finish the fitting. Unfortunately the neatest work is done by fitting a shoe "close" and then rasping off any protruding horn. This is bad for the foot, as it weakens the wall and spoils the bearing surface at each shoeing. The worst offenders in this direction are dealers, who sacrifice everything to appearances and insist upon shoeing being neat at all hazards.

Opening the Heels is one of the gravest faults a farrier can be guilty of. It consists in cutting away the extremity of the wall at the heel and generally a slice off the side of the frog at the same time. The effect is to produce an appearance of width at the back of the foot—to make what is called "a fine open foot." [Fig. 31] shows a foot which has been injured in this way. The wedge shaped opening which results has many objections. It breaks the continuity of structures at the heels, it removes horn unnecessarily, it weakens the foot and, when the wall is interfered with, it shortens the bearing surface for a shoe. The bearing surface at the back of the foot is perhaps the most important of any afforded by the wall. The longer the bearing surface is at the heels the more the base for sustaining weight is brought under the leg, and the better the position for supporting the body. All removal of horn that shortens this surface is injurious.

Over-reduction of hoof is always a fault. It is true a carefully fitted shoe on a foot so treated may do no harm for a time. Too much horn should be left rather than too little. A strong covering of horn is a protection against many mistakes in the fitting or form of a shoe applied to a foot. So long as a hoof is everywhere strong enough to sustain pressure and afford bearing, weight is evenly distributed throughout the whole foot. When the horn is thin it yields to any uneven pressure and damage is done to the foot, even if immediate lameness is not induced.

[CHAPTER IV.]
The Form and Manufacture of Shoes.

Horse-shoes are made either by hand or machinery. In this country most are hand-made—the front shoes from new bar-iron, and the hind from old shoes welded together and drawn out under heavy hammers. Probably no method of working iron gives such good results as this in producing a hard, tough shoe that will withstand wear. The custom of the trade is to keep a stock of shoes suitable for all the regular customers. From this stock are selected sizes and forms, which are then specially fitted for each foot.

Various materials have been tried in the production of horse-shoes. Leather, compressed and hardened, has been tried, and failed. Vulcanite was experimented with unsuccessfully. Paper, or more correctly, a compressed papier maché, has also been tested but proved unsatisfactory. Steel has been pretty largely tried in many different forms, but it is difficult to temper. As nearly all shoes are applied immediately after being fitted they have to be rapidly cooled in water, and steel treated in this way is made so hard that, if the shoes do not break, they are dangerously slippery on most paved streets. As a material for shoes good malleable iron has no equal. It can be obtained in bars of various sizes to suit any form and weight of shoe, and the old shoes made from it may be worked up over and over again.

The chief objects to be attained in any particular pattern or form of shoe are—that it be light, easily and safely retained by few nails, capable of wearing three weeks or a month, and that it afford good foot-hold to the horse. All shoes should be soundly worked and free from flaws.

The first shoes were doubtless applied solely to protect the foot from wear. The simplest arrangement would then be either a thin plate of iron covering the ground surface of the foot, or a narrow rim fixed merely round the lower border of the wall. Experience teaches that these primitive forms can be modified with advantage, and that certain patterns are specially adapted to our artificial conditions. A good workman requires no directions as to how he should work, and it is doubtful if a bad one would be benefitted by any written rules, but it should be noted that a well-made shoe may be bad for a horse's foot, whilst a very rough, badly-made one may, when properly fitted, be a useful article. To make and apply horse-shoes a man must be more than a clever worker in iron—he must be a farrier, and that necessitates a knowledge of the horse's foot and the form of shoe best adapted to its wants.

Weight of Shoes. The lighter a shoe can be made the better. Weight is a disadvantage we are obliged to put up with to obtain wear, for the frequent removal of shoes is only a little less injurious to the hoof than working with none at all. It is not to be understood that the heaviest shoe gives the most wear; on the contrary, a heavy shoe may have the iron so distributed as to increase the rapidity of wear, and a shoe of half the weight properly formed may last longer. It is no uncommon thing to find worn-out shoes still weighing more than a new shoe which will, on the same horse, give a longer period of wear. When a horse wears his shoes out very rapidly, the indication to the farrier is not simply to increase the weight, but to see if he can obtain more wear by altering the form and distributing the iron in a different way. A tired horse wears his shoes much more rapidly than a fresh and active one. Continued slipping wears away a shoe out of all proportion to the work done by a horse having a firm foot-hold. These two different conditions may be partially due to the shoes, for a heavy shoe tires the leg, and broad flat shoes favour slipping. Some horses wear one special part of the shoe excessively—as a rule, either at the toe or the heel—and this is better met by turning up the worn part out of the line of wear than by thickening it and so increasing weight. Besides, a heavy shoe requires a greater number or a larger size of nails to retain it securely in position, and this is a disadvantage. It has often been asserted that a horse "goes better" in a heavy shoe than a light one, and that this is due to the heavier shoe acting as a protection to the foot and warding off concussion. If the term "goes better" merely means that he lifts his foot higher and consequently bends his knee more, I do not deny the assertion. The reason of this is not that the horse feels less concussion and therefore goes freer. It is an exaggeration of the natural movements, due simply to the horse with weight imposed on his feet having to use the muscles of his arms more to lift that weight. The same thing can be brought about by tying bags of shot on to the hoof, which is done to cultivate "action." The healthy foot requires no artificial aids against concussion, but when a foot becomes tender from bad shoeing it may sometimes be relieved by adding to the substance and weight of a shoe.

The following are about the average weights, per shoe, of horses standing 16 hands high:

Race Horses2to4ounces.
Hacks and Hunters15to18"
Carriage Horses20to30"
Omnibus "3to3-1/2lbs.
Dray "4to4"

Thickness and Width of Shoes. To obtain the necessary amount of wear from shoes they must be increased either in thickness or width, and it will assist us in estimating the relative value of these conditions if we shortly consider their advantages and disadvantages. I may say at once that no sound foot requires a wide shoe merely as "cover" or protection for the sole. Defective soles may sometimes require protection, but sound ones never, and we may therefore put aside entirely all claims made for width of shoe under pretence that it gives a valuable protection to the foot. A shoe should be as wide as the natural bearing surface of the foot, so that it may occupy the whole of the space offered by nature as useful for bearing. Even when it is wider no harm is done until the width is such as to afford a lodgement for stones, etc., between the concave sole and the web of the shoe.

A thick shoe raises the foot from the ground and thus removes the frog from bearing—a very decided disadvantage. It also requires the larger sizes of nails to fill up the deep nail holes, and very often renders the direction of the nail holes a matter of some difficulty.

The width of a shoe may beneficially vary. It should be widest at the toe to afford increased surface of iron where wear is greatest. It should be narrowest at the heels so as not to infringe upon the frog, nor yet to protrude greatly beyond the level of the wall. The thickness of a shoe should not vary unless, perhaps, it be reduced in the quarters. Heel and toe should be of the same thickness so as to preserve a level bearing. Excess of thickness at the toe puts a strain on the back tendons, whilst excess at the heels tends to straighten the pastern.

The surfaces of Shoes. There are two surfaces of the shoe which claim attention, one which is applied to the foot, and another which rests on the ground. The form of these surfaces may be varied greatly, but of course the foot-surface presents much less necessity and less opportunity for alterations than the ground-surface. The foot-surface of a shoe must be formed in accordance with the requirements of the horse's foot, and no other consideration should be allowed to materially modify it. The ground-surface may be altered to suit the tastes and prejudices of the owner as well as the requirements of the horse and the peculiarity of roadways.

Fig. 32.—A level, flat bearing-surface.

The Foot-Surface. It is quite obvious that the surface of the shoe upon which the hoof has to rest should be regular and even; that it should not consist of hills and holes or grooves and ridges. I should not have mentioned such a very evident matter but that in large towns, the cheaper and poorer classes of shoeing commonly possess this very fault. When shoes are made from thin, wide, old iron tyres they are "buckled" on one surface, and to hide this the farrier puts that side to the foot so that it is not noticed until it causes damage. There are three or four forms of foot-surface adopted by farriers, all of which have distinctive features, and some of which have very grave evils. There is the plain flat surface which is given to all narrow shoes, to hunting shoes, and to some heavier and wider shoes. So long as the sole is healthy and arched this is a very good form. All hind shoes have a flat foot-surface, and most fore shoes might have it with advantage. It utilises the whole of the natural bearing surface, and must of necessity afford a firmer basis for the foot to rest upon than a more limited surface. The fore feet are not so constantly arched in the sole as the hind. Sometimes they are flat and occasionally convex. If a shoe be intended for use on all feet—on feet with convex and flat soles as well as those properly formed—a wide flat foot surface would often cause injury by pressing unevenly upon the sole. To avoid this injury in less than five per cent of feet, and to save the trouble of keeping in stock shoes of different forms, the flat foot-surface of front shoes has been replaced by a bevelled or "seated" surface. ([Fig. 33]).

Fig. 33.—A "seated" bearing surface.

This form is very widely used. It consists of a narrow flat surface next the outer circumference of the shoe, about equal in width to the border of the wall, and within that, of a bevelled surface, sloped off so as to avoid any pressure on a flat sole. This "seated" surface is not positively injurious but it limits the bearing to the wall, and neglects to utilise the additional bearing surface offered by the border of the sole. If shoes were to be made all alike no shoe is so generally useful and safe as one with a foot-surface of this form, but it is evident that when the sole of the foot is concave there is nothing gained by making half the foot-surface of the shoe also concave.

There are two other forms of foot-surface on shoes. In one the surface slopes gradually from the outer to the inner edge of the shoe, like the side of a saucer. In the other the incline is reversed and runs from the inner edge downwards to the outer. This last form is not often used, and was invented with the object of spreading or widening the foot to which it was attached. The inventor seemed to think that contraction of a foot was an active condition to be overcome by force, and that expansion might be properly effected by a plan of constantly forcing apart the two sides of the foot. The usual result of wearing such a shoe is lameness, and it achieves no good which cannot be as well reached by simply letting the foot alone.

Fig. 34.—Foot-surface sloped outwards.

Fig. 35.—Foot-surface sloped inwards.

The foot-surface which inclines downwards and inwards like a saucer acts in an exactly opposite way to the other. The wall cannot rest on the outer edge of the shoe, and consequently falls within it, the effect being that at every step the horse's foot is compressed by the saucer-shaped bearing. This form of surface ([Fig. 35]) is frequently seen, and is at all times bad and unnecessary. Even when making a shoe for the most convex sole it is possible to leave an outer bearing surface, narrow but level, which will sustain weight without squeezing the foot.

Fig. 36.—Foot-surface level at Heels.

At the heels the foot-surface of all shoes should be flat—not seated—so that a firm bearing may be obtained on the wall and the extremity of the bar. No foot is convex at the heels, therefore there is no excuse for losing any bearing surface by seating the heels of a shoe to avoid uneven pressure. [Fig. 36] rather exaggerates the "unseated" portion of shoe.

The Ground-Surface. As I have said, this may vary indefinitely. Sometimes it is a plain flat surface, broken only by the holes made for nails or by the "fullering" which affords not only space for the nails but some grip on the ground. When a shoe is "fullered" the groove made should be deep, so as to let the nail-head well down, and wide so as to afford room for giving the nail a proper direction. If the fullering be continued round the toe of a shoe by a good workman neatness is given, but when a clip is drawn the iron is so reduced that some wear is sacrificed. If only an inch at the toe be unfullered, the solid iron affords more wear just where it is wanted.

Fig. 37.—Concave ground-surface.

The concave shoe, often described as a hunting-shoe, presents a very different ground-surface from that just referred to. It rests upon two ridges with the fullering between, and on the inner side of these the iron is suddenly sloped off. This shoe is narrow and flat on the foot-surface, and is specially formed to give a good foot-hold and to be secure on the hoof.

Fig. 38.—Double-grooved ground-surface.

A Rodway shoe has two longitudinal grooves and three ridges on its ground-surface. The outer groove carries the nails, and the inner groove lightens the shoe and increases the foot-hold. It is not the number of grooves or ridges that prevents slipping; it is the absence of a continuous flat surface of iron, and the existence of irregularities which become filled up with sand and grit. A four-grooved shoe has no more anti-slipping properties than a three-grooved, and a one-grooved shoe is as good as either, although it cannot stand the same amount of wear.

Transverse ridges and notches have also been tried as ground-surfaces for shoes, but offer very little, if any, better grip than the longitudinal grooves. Their great disadvantage is that they cannot be made deep enough without weakening the shoe, whilst if shallow they are worn out before the shoe has been long in wear.

Fig. 38.—Ground-surfaces, notches, projections, ridges.

A Calkin is the name given to the extremity of a shoe when turned down at the heels. Calkins are used on most hind shoes and, in some parts of the country, on fore shoes. They are supposed to be the most convenient and effective means of giving good foot-hold. This supposition is correct when a horse travels on soft ground or on streets so paved that a space is left between each course of stones. They are of very little use on asphalte or wood pavement, and not much more use on roller-made macadam. With light modern carriages and level modern roads calkins are quite unnecessary, and better means of giving foot-hold may be substituted. It is a fact that horses when shoes are new and calkins prominent do their work without slipping, and that when the calkins are worn down the horse moves with less confidence and security. This does not prove that calkins are necessary. It must be remembered that horses possess a power of adapting themselves to circumstances, but having learned to rely upon any artificial assistance they are the more helpless, for a time, on its withdrawal. Calkins assist the horse for a time, but after the calkin is worn down the horse is in a worse position than if he had never become accustomed to its assistance. Of course on soft ground, especially grass, calkins afford a firmer grip than any other contrivance. On the other hand, their constant use lifts the frog out of bearing and causes it to waste, thus spoiling the action of the natural provision against slipping. Level shoes on the hind feet promote sound, prominent frogs, and give firm foot-hold for all light horses. Even omnibus horses, now that the vehicles are supplied with effective foot-brakes, may advantageously be worked without calkins. On country roads, especially when the district is hilly or the load is heavy, calkins may be requisite, and must then be made to do as little harm as possible.

Fig. 39.

The wear of a shoe is affected by the height of a calkin. The more the heel is raised the greater the amount of wear at the toe. Many shoes when worn out at the toe show very little effects of wear at other parts, and the question arises how best to increase the wear of the shoe without increasing its weight. In [Fig. 39] three diagrams are presented in which dotted lines show the effect of wear. At (a) the shoe is of even thickness throughout—from heel to toe—and the line of wear shows that when the shoe is worn out a great amount of iron remains. At (b) the quarters of the shoe are made thinner and the toe is made thicker, so that with no increase of weight but by a better distribution of the iron, increased wear is provided for at the part where it is most required. At (c) is shown a shoe similar in form to that at (b) but differently fitted. The toe is turned slightly upwards, and the result is that a larger portion of iron is brought into wear. In the case of very hard-wearing horses that scrape out the toe of the ordinary shoe in ten or fourteen days this form of fitting adds considerably to the durability of the shoe, and so preserves the foot from the evil of too frequent removal of shoes, whilst avoiding any increase of weight. Without calkins wear is more evenly distributed, and the toe is not worn away disproportionately to the rest of the shoe.

Fig. 40.—Two calkins—the low square one preferable.

A calkin throws the leg and foot, to some extent, out of their proper position. A very high calkin is not only objectionable, it is unnecessary. Not much prominence is required to afford a catch or stop. Excessive height is usually given to meet wear, and this can be obtained equally well by increasing the width and breadth. I, therefore, recommend that when calkins are used they should be low, square and broad. The further under a foot the calkin is placed, the greater is the raising of the heel, therefore calkins should always be accompanied by a long shoe. The further back a calkin be placed the less it interferes with the natural position of the foot.

Calkins render a horse liable to tread the opposite foot, and the higher and sharper the calkin the greater the injury inflicted. To avoid this injury the inner heel of a shoe frequently has no calkin, but is made at the same level as the outer by narrowing and raising the iron at the heel, forming what is called a wedge heel. This is not an advisable form of shoe as it has on the inner heel a skate-shaped formation, most favourable to slipping, and on the outer a catch—an arrangement tending to twist the foot each time the catch takes hold of the ground. If calkins are used at all they should be of equal height and on both heels of the shoe.

In Scotland, and in the North of England, heavy horses are shod, fore and hind, not only with calkins but also with toe-pieces, and the owners assert that the horses could not do the work without them. That horses do similar work in the South without calkins and toe-pieces rather shakes one's faith in the assertion, but it must be remembered that nearly all paved streets in the North have a division left between the rows of stones in which the toe-piece finds a firm resisting surface. I believe also that the average load drawn is greater in the North than in the South. One thing in favour of toe-pieces must be acknowledged—they, with the calkins, restore the natural position of the foot and preserve the level of the shoe. On the larger draught horses the toe-pieces permit a lighter shoe to be used, as the portion of iron between heels and toe need not be thick to resist wear. It only requires to be strong enough to support weight and much less iron is therefore used.

The heavy dray horse of the North, shod with toe-pieces and calkins, is never worked at a trot. In London all horses are trotted—a proceeding which reflects discredit upon the intelligence of the managers.

I must mention another objection to calkins. They increase the tendency to "cut," and many horses will cease "cutting" after calkins are removed and a level shoe has been adopted.

Nails and nail holes. It is necessary to consider these together as they are dependent on each other. Shoes were first nailed to the feet by flat-headed nails, and probably it was a long time before the wedge-headed nail was thought of. When the nail head fits into the nail hole it may retain the shoe till it is worn as thin as a penny, but if only the shank of the nail enters the shoe, the head is soon worn off and the shoe becomes loose. Within the last 20 years the horse-shoe nail trade has been revolutionised by the introduction of machinery. Machine-made nails are now almost entirely used, and the three or four leading brands are as near perfection as were the very best hand-made. Practically there is no fault to find with them, and as they are ready-pointed for driving they save time and labour in the forge. They are made in various sizes, and numbered from 2 up to 16. Only the very best iron can be used to produce good nails. Nothing is dearer than bad nails which cause injury to the foot and loss of shoes.

Fig. 41.

A good nail should present certain forms of head, neck and shank. The head should not be too broad at the top or it may become fixed in the nail-hole only by its upper edge, as shown in the middle diagram [Fig. 41], and when the shoe has had a few days wear the nail loses its hold, and the shoe is loose. The neck should not be too thick, as it is then liable to press on the sensitive foot and to break the wall. The shank should not be too wide or too thick. The point should not be too long or too tapered as this leaves insufficient metal to form a good clinch.

There are two methods of putting nail-holes into shoes—by "fullering" and by "stamping." A stamped shoe is one in which the nail holes are merely punched at certain distances, so as to leave four-sided tapered holes of the exact shape of a nail-head. A fullered shoe is one having a groove round the circumference through which the nail-holes are punched. Both processes, when well-done, admit of nails being driven into the hoof with equal safety and ease.

Whether stamped or fullered, there are a few more important points to remember about the nail-holes. The wall is not of the same thickness throughout, but becomes thinner towards the heels. The inner side of the foot is also somewhat thinner and more upright than the outer. The safest position, then, for the nails is in the front half of the foot, but should this position not present sound horn they may be placed further back. The danger of placing nails near the heels is due entirely to the greater risk in driving them through the thin horn. There need be no fear of interfering with expansion.

The distance of the nail-holes from the outer edge of the shoe should depend upon the thickness of the horn of the wall, and therefore be greater in large shoes than in smaller, and greater at the toe than at the heels of the same shoe. When the nail-holes are all near to the circumference of the shoe ([Fig. 42] B.) they are described as "fine"; when they are all placed far from the edge ([Fig. 42] A.) they are called "coarse." When the nail-holes are too "fine" a nail has to be driven high up in the wall to obtain a firm hold, and this is liable to split the horn. When nail-holes are too "coarse" the nail in driving goes dangerously near the sensitive foot. The evils of coarse and fine nailing depend a great deal upon the method of fitting the shoes. When shoes are fitted full to the foot (when the outer circumference of the shoe is greater than the circumference of the wall) "coarse" nail-holes are brought to about their best position. When shoes are fitted close (i.e., when their outer edge is brought within the border of the wall) "fine" nail-holes are brought to their best position in relation to the foot. It need hardly be added that the fit of a shoe ought not to be subject to the position of the nail-holes, but that these should be properly placed so that fitting be guided only by the requirements of the foot.

Fig. 42.—Wrongly placed Nail-holes.

Each nail-hole when properly placed—neither too coarse nor too fine—should be punched straight through the shoe and not inclined either inwards or outwards, except at the toe where the slope of the wall is followed by slightly pitching in. When a fuller is used the groove made should be wide; then the farrier has more command over the direction of his nail. If the nail-hole be pitched in, the nail must take that direction and is liable to wound the foot. If the nail-hole be pitched out, the nail is prevented from taking sufficient hold of the horn.

Fig. 43.—Nail-holes "pitched" in and out.

The position and direction of the nail-hole control the passage of a nail through a shoe and into the hoof. The man who drives a nail is usually blamed for laming a horse, but in most cases it would be more just to blame the man who made the nail-holes or fitted the shoe and so rendered safe driving difficult or impossible.

Each nail-hole should be as far as possible from the other—say, from an inch to an inch and a half apart. When the two front or toe nail-holes are put too far back the whole are crowded, or the last are pushed back too near the heels.

For small shoes four or five nail-holes are sufficient. Medium-sized shoes should have from five to seven, and the heavy shoes of big draught horses must have eight. The number of nail-holes need not always be increased in proportion to the size of the shoe, because as the weight of shoe is increased so is the size of the nail, and an extra strong nail may take the place of additional ones. The fewer nails in a foot the better, but as a properly-placed nail does no harm, and as the loss of a shoe may be very serious, it is better to have one too many than one too few.

Fig. 44.—Machine-made Shoe—Fore-foot.

Fig. 45.—Machine-made Shoe—Hind-foot.

Machine-made Shoes. Horse-shoeing is distinctly an art requiring special skill for its proper performance. It is also one of the most laborious of all skilled trades. Anything which lightens mechanical toil tends to improve the mental and artistic qualities of the workman, and all applications of machinery which lessen the heavy manual labour of the farrier may therefore be looked upon as improvements. Machinery has lightened the labour of shoe-making in two ways—by supplying various patterns of grooved and bevelled iron in bars, which only require cutting into lengths and turning round to form a shoe, and also by making shoes all ready to be fitted to the foot. Machinery has not yet turned out a shoe as good and durable and well finished as the best workman can produce by hand, but it can produce many forms of shoes as good for all practical purposes, and it has this advantage—all are alike. Bad workmen make bad shoes, but a machine, once able to produce a good model, can repeat it exactly, therefore machine-made shoes of a proper pattern are superior to all but the very best hand-made shoes. Economy, of course, is on the side of the article produced by machinery, and all large firms keeping their own farriers find a great saving by buying the ready-made shoes. Under conditions when shoes must be fitted without a fire, as in coal mines, or in the case of armies during a campaign, the machine-made article has the advantages of regularity of form and a true level bearing surface.

Fig. 46.—Sections of rolled bar iron.

In little shops where often only one man is at work, either machine-made shoes or prepared bar iron offer great conveniences. The prepared bars can be bought seated on the foot-surface and with a single or double groove on the ground-surface. Very narrow bars suitable for tips, "Charlier," or light hack shoes are now widely used, and a special bar—flat on the foot-surface, concave to the ground—can be obtained which only requires cutting into lengths and turning round to form a first-class hunting-shoe.

Fig. 47.—Sections of light pattern bar iron.

Both prepared bars and machine-made shoes must be judged by their form and by the material used in their manufacture. Some are better than others, but all have to contend with a large amount of trade prejudice which has little basis except in the matter of the hind shoes—here machinery has not yet reached perfection.

[CHAPTER V.]
Selection of Shoes.

In practice, a farrier does not trouble much about the selection of suitable shoes. The rule is to apply whatever form of shoe the horse has been wearing, and only to venture an opinion as to alterations when asked by the owner. When the selection of a suitable shoe is left to the workman he takes into consideration the work required of the horse, the form of the feet, and the wear of the old shoes. The form of the old shoes indicates not only whether a horse is a light or hard wearer but what parts of the shoe are most worn, and thus enables provision to be made against excessive or irregular wear. The form of the feet indicates not only what size of shoe is requisite but also what special weakness or strength is to be encountered. It is also necessary to note the condition of the fetlocks and knees, which may show signs of "brushing" or "speedy cutting." According to all these appearances a shoe should be selected. For the different classes of horse there are well-known forms of shoe which present special advantages, thus:—

The race horse when in training, may be shod with a very light shoe, but on the turf he requires the lightest contrivance capable of protecting the hoof and affording good foot-hold. The ordinary racing plate answers these requirements. It is made in a "crease," or tool, or may be made from specially prepared bars which only need cutting into lengths and turning round. The plate is about one-third of an inch wide by one-eighth thick. The foot-surface is flat, and the ground-surface is fullered and concave.

Steeplechase plates are made on the same pattern, but should be a little stronger so as to avoid even the possibility of becoming twisted on the foot.

Hunting shoes should be light, very secure, and of a form to give good foot hold. The best are flat on the foot-surface, and fullered and concave on the ground-surface. The hind shoe should also be concave on the ground-surface, but to avoid the injury of over-reaching the inner circumference at the toe should be rounded and smooth. A small square calkin at each heel affords grip on grass, and especially in going down hill at a fast pace.

Hacks, being used on hard roads, must have heavier shoes than hunters, but the form may be the same.

Carriage horses require more substance in their shoes than hacks, and the narrow concave shoes suitable for hunters and hacks cannot give sufficient durability. The double-grooved shoe known as "Rodway's" is the best for this class. On ordinary roads the hind feet may be shod with a common two heeled shoe, but on wood and asphalte the heavier sizes of Rodway iron make a shoe that affords very good foot hold and dispenses with the necessity for calkins.

Omnibus and Van horses require stronger shoes to meet the hard wear entailed by their work. The heavy Rodway iron makes very suitable front shoes, but the hind shoes must be solid with only a fullering for the nails or, as many prefer, each nail-hole separately stamped. As a rule the hind shoes of this class of horse have calkins on the outside heel. If the vehicle in which they run is provided with a foot-brake calkins are unnecessary, and the advantages of a level shoe should be made use of. The advantages are—better foot hold, longer wear and less danger from treads and "cutting."

Heavy draught horses. In Scotland and in the North of England this class of horse is shod with a toe-piece and calkins on both fore and hind shoes. In London calkins are only put on the hind shoes, and toe-pieces are not used at all. On paved streets where a space exists between the rows of stones and especially if the road be hilly, I think toe-pieces are advisable, and of course when they are used calkins must be also made. Horses having become accustomed to toe-pieces, when shod with a level shoe, slip much more for a week or two than do horses which have never learned to rely upon the bar across the toe. Every thing considered, I incline to prefer a level shoe in front, and a shoe with two low square calkins behind for heavy draught horses. The enormous width of shoe often used in London is quite unnecessary, it is very heavy and it favours slipping. A narrower shoe must of course be a little thicker to meet the wear, but it is lighter and affords better foot hold, and as slipping and fatigue are both causes of excessive wear, a narrow shoe, weight for weight, will last longer than a broad flat one.

[CHAPTER VI.]
Fitting and Application of Shoes.

Having selected shoes suitable for the feet and adapted to the special work of the horse, having also prepared the foot for shoeing, we arrive at another important part of the farriers' art—fitting the shoe. No matter what form of shoe be used or how the foot be prepared for it, unless the two are properly fitted the horse does not obtain all the advantages of good shoeing, and may be positively injured. The owner of horses seldom knows anything about the fitting of shoes, and therefore fails to appreciate how some of his directions concerning feet and shoes are quite impracticable.

Fig. 48.

I have in a previous chapter attempted to show how a foot should be prepared for shoeing, and what bearing surface should be left for the shoe. I have also described what I consider the best forms of shoe. The object at all times should be to follow nature as closely as possible, but it often happens that we may, with benefit, depart from the exact indications given and still fulfil all essential requirements. If we examine the unshod foot which has been worn down to proper proportions we find the bearing surface is not level—it is worn more at the toe and heels than elsewhere. If we examine the ground surface of an old shoe the same thing is noticed—the surface is not level, the toe and heel show most wear. The question then arises, should we make the artificial bearing surface of the foot on the same plan and adjust the shoe to it, as in [Fig. 48], or should we make the surface level and apply a level shoe as in [Fig. 49]? I believe that the ideal arrangement would be to follow the line suggested by a worn foot or a worn shoe, but it is difficult to carry out, and greater exactness of fit is more readily obtained by two level surfaces. The ground surface of a shoe may, if necessary, be altered to suit the outline of wear, whilst the level foot-surface is preserved, as in [Fig. 50.]

Fig. 49.

Fig. 50.

Whatever form the farrier adopts, a shoe should rest equally throughout, and the contact of foot and shoe should be exact over the whole bearing surface. Assuming then that a properly prepared foot presents a level surface, the fitting of shoes becomes simple so long as the smith possesses manual dexterity and follows the indications of common sense.

There are two conditions to be fulfilled, (1) to fit the shoe to the plain surface of the foot, (2) to fit the shoe to the circumference of the wall. Most amateurs judge shoeing by the way a shoe follows the outline of the hoof, but the practical man knows that it is equally difficult and important to fit the surface.

Outline fitting. A shoe is first compared with the foot, it is then heated, and the heels cut off or turned down to the proper length. Each limb of the shoe is fitted to follow the outline of the wall, and it is necessary to warn the novice that the inside and outside borders of a foot are not alike. The outside is rounder and fuller, and the shoe should be shaped to follow exactly the direction of the wall. The outer border of a shoe should always be as prominent as the outer border of the hoof; it should never be within it. The inner border must not protrude beyond the wall lest the opposite leg be struck. A well fitted shoe must be fitted full to the foot. What is called "close" fitting, i.e., bringing the shoe rather within the circumference of the wall, is injurious, as it loses the best and strongest bearing of the wall, and permits the farrier to give an appearance of neatness by rasping away any horn which protrudes beyond the shoe. On a well-shaped foot the shoe should follow the outer line of the hoof from toe to heel, but where the heels of a foot are turned inwards there is an advantage in fitting the shoe wider at the heels, as by so doing the base of the foot is not constricted and a wider resting surface is afforded to the limb. When a shoe is fitted wide at the heels it is essential that the foot-surface of the shoe should be level at the heels. If it be inclined, as it often is in seated shoes, a very grave defect in the fitting results, for the heels have no level bearing-surface.

A shoe fitted too wide is liable to be trodden off by the opposite foot, or it may cause the horse to hit the opposite fetlock joint.

Provided the nail holes are properly placed, when the outside border of the shoe is fitted nicely to the circumference of the hoof, they are brought to their right position. When nail holes are placed too near, or too far, from the outer border of the shoe—i.e., when they are too "fine" or too "coarse"—it may be necessary to correct their position by fitting the shoe "closer" or "fuller," as the case may be. When a farrier fits shoes made by another man he may overlook this, as we are all slaves to habit. The man who in his daily practice combines "close" fitting with "fine" nailing has to alter his routine when fitting a shoe with coarse nail holes.

The length of a shoe at the heels is a matter of more importance than is generally recognised. As a rule hunters are all shod too short, while most cart horses are shod too long. The objections to a long front shoe are that it is liable to be trodden off by the hind shoe, and that it may injure the elbow when the horse lies down. A long hind shoe is free from both these disadvantages, and as it usually has a calkin is the best form to adopt.

In fitting the heels of front shoes, in all but galloping horses, the iron should generally extend slightly behind the extremity of the horn. ([Fig. 48]). Horses used for galloping should have the end of the shoe just within the termination of the horn, and should finish with an oblique extremity. ([Fig. 49]). There is nothing gained by greater shortening, if the iron be fitted exactly to the horn. Why shoes are often pulled off, when only just the length of the hoof, is because they are not fitted close enough, and very often because they are wilfully and ignorantly designed to leave a space between hoof and iron. This so-called "eased" heel is an unmitigated evil.

Fig. 49.—Shoe fitted short at the heels.

Surface-fitting. It is simple to direct that the bearing-surface of a shoe should be exactly adapted to the bearing-surface of a foot. It is not so simple to carry out. When the horn on the lower surface of a foot is thin any uneven pressure—i.e., pressure applied directly to one spot—soon causes injury, pain, and lameness. When a good thick layer of horn exists, uneven pressures are less injurious, because the horn distributes them over a wide surface. Good workmanship is displayed by leaving no uneven pressure, and by so fitting a shoe that it shall do no harm. With a narrow shoe—one only the width of the wall—no uneven pressure can be applied to the sensitive foot, but such a shoe is seldom used as it is too light to afford sufficient wear. A wide shoe with a flat foot surface is easily fitted on all concave feet—i.e., on all hind and most fore feet. To make use of the whole bearing-surface a shoe must rest evenly from toe to heel—the flat surface of the shoe must take a level bearing on the whole flat bearing-surface of the foot.

There are two places where injury from uneven pressure is most likely to happen—at the toe and at the heels.

In preparing a foot the wall at the toe may, from want of care, be reduced a little below the level of the sole, or in making a shoe the inside border at the toe may be left higher than the outside. In each case uneven pressure is placed on the sole just where the back border of the shoe rests. In fitting a hot shoe, wherever the hoof is unduly marked warning is given that pressure at that point must be prevented by altering the surface either of the shoe or the foot. On a strong foot, the knife may be used to remove a little horn; on a weak foot the alteration must be on the shoe.

At the the heel uneven pressure is most frequent on the angle of sole between the wall and bar, where it causes the so-called "corn"—a condition in the horse having no analogy to the affliction similarly named in the human subject. It is simply a bruise of the sensitive parts under the horn.

A bruised heel—a corn—is most likely to arise from the use of a shoe too short, especially if fitted too close. It may arise from a properly-fitted shoe retained too long on the foot and shifted from its proper bearing on the wall to an improper bearing on the sole. A bruised heel may also result from the use of a well-made shoe if the preparation of the hoof has been faulty. Rule-of-thumb directions to "reduce the heels to a level by the use of the rasp, but on no account cut away any sole" may result in injury. In a strong foot with an overgrown sole it is easy to get a level surface and to fit on to it a level shoe, but the horn of the sole does not remain level. As it grows and flakes off the portion between the bar and wall is raised. If the weather be wet it swells, and then, bound down by the shoe, it acts simply as a stone might and bruises the sensitive parts within by its uneven pressure. It is always safe and it is never injurious to remove so much of the surface of this portion of sole with the drawing-knife as will ensure no uneven pressure on it by the shoe.

Fig. 50.—An "eased" heel.

The more exactly the shoe fits the foot-surface the more easily it is retained in position by the nails, and the less likelihood there is of any part of it pressing distinctly on a limited portion of horn. Exact fitting allows all bearings and pressures to be distributed equally over the surface of the hoof, and thus permits the shoe most nearly to resemble a mere continuation of the hoof in iron—an arrangement to prevent wear, but not to interfere with natural functions. There is one departure from level fitting which requires special notice since it is made, not by accident or negligence, but by design. It consists in taking the bearing of an inch or an inch and a half of the extremity of a shoe off the foot. ([Fig. 50]). It has been called "easing the heels," and the space permits a knife-blade, sometimes even a pencil, to be placed between the shoe and the foot. It is one of the very worst practices that theory has forced into horse-shoeing. Men who do it say "the heels won't stand pressure." I reply they will stand all proper pressure, and a good deal more than the quarters. But the practice does not relieve the heels of pressure. If you examine a shoe fitted in this way, after it has done a month's service, you will find it sometimes polished bright, sometimes with a deep groove worn into it. You may also test its bearing by raising the foot from the ground and inserting between shoe and hoof a flat bit of wood, then on releasing the foot and raising the opposite one, you will find that the bearing is such that the bit of wood cannot be removed. The "eased heel" does not relieve the heels of pressure but, instead of constant normal bearing, it permits a downward movement of the back of the foot at each step—which is unnatural, and which cannot occur in an unshod foot on a level surface. The "eased heel" does more than this. It wastes a large extent of good bearing-surface, and it concentrates pressure at one point—where the shoe and foot meet—at the quarters. It loses good bearing-surface where it is important to have it, and unevenly throws extra weight on the quarters which are the weakest parts of the wall. An "eased heel" has not one single advantage, but it has every disadvantage which misplaced ingenuity could contrive.

Fig. 51.—Section of a seated shoe.

For flat feet a wide shoe with a flat foot-surface is unsafe as there is liability to uneven pressure on the sole. For such feet the safer form of foot-surface is one presenting a level narrow bearing-surface round its outer border, from which an inclined or bevelled surface continues the shoe inwards. ([Fig. 51]) This form of shoe can be fitted to nearly any kind of foot. To escape injury to a flat sole "seating out" shoes is necessary, but the operation should always leave a level bearing-surface for the wall. When a shoe is seated from one side to the other so as to produce a saucer shaped surface harm is done to the foot. Such a shoe presents no level bearing-surface, and the weight of the horse pressing the wall on an inclined plane causes the foot to be pinched or compressed in a manner which soon causes lameness. ([Fig. 52]). A few years ago these shoes were too common, and to make them still more injurious, the foot was pared out from the centre to the circumference like a saucer, and the two spoiled articles were fitted together. Their surfaces of contact were two narrow ridges which even the most expert workman could not fit without injury to the horse.

Fig. 52.—Section of a "saucer" shoe.

In [Fig. 52] a shoe with an inclined surface is applied to a foot with a bearing-surface as wide as the wall but the only contact is at the edges. The horn at the edge will yield, and the hoof be pressed inwards as the weight of the animal forces the foot into the saucer-shaped shoe. When the bearing-surface of the foot, instead of being as wide as the wall, is only a ridge, the horn yields more rapidly, the clinches rise and the shoe becomes loose.

In [Fig. 53] is shown a section of another shoe with an inclined instead of a level surface, but the slope is from within outwards. The effect of this is exactly the opposite of the previous shoe. The wall is forced outwards, and if it does not as a whole yield to the pressure the portion in contact is broken. When this form of bearing-surface is adopted at the heels of a shoe the two sides of the hoof are violently forced apart, and it has even been recommended as a means of expanding the foot; but forcible expansion is both unnecessary and dangerous.

Always regarding the shoe as an extension of the natural hoof in a harder and more durable material, it is evident that the most stability will be attained by the use of as wide a bearing-surface of foot and shoe as is compatible with ease and safety to the horse.

In [Fig. 54] is shown a section of a narrow shoe which takes a bearing over the whole extent of its foot-surface.

Fig. 53.—Bearing-surface inclined outwards.

Fig. 54.—Narrow shoe with level bearing-surface.

In [Fig. 55] is shown a shoe with as wide a bearing-surface as in [Fig. 54], but which loses half its bearing because the foot-surface is too narrow to utilise it.

Fig. 55.—Bearing-surface of foot too narrow.

Fig. 56.—A good bearing-surface.

In [Fig. 56] we have a model bearing-surface on the foot, nearly twice the width of the wall, and we have a shoe with a flat foot-surface capable of using the whole bearing. Such is the fitting of all hind shoes, and it might well be adopted with advantage in all fore shoes on good feet.

Clips are thin projections drawn up from the outer border of shoes for the purpose of giving greater security to their position on a foot. On heavy cart horses the clips are sometimes of great size and encourage the idea that the smith looks upon them as designed to assist the nails to retain the shoe on the foot. They should have no such purpose, their use being merely to prevent the shoe shifting to one side. A clip should not be narrow and high, it should be low and wide so that its bearing is taken against the lower edge of the wall. A high clip is a most serious danger when shoes get loose and are trodden on by the horse. The usual position for a clip is at the toe, but there are occasions when two clips—one at each side of the toe—are used. On some shoes a clip is placed at the outer quarter to prevent the shoe being displaced inwards; this is more often required on hind shoes. A clip at the toe affords some assistance in fitting a shoe exactly, and it also affords steadiness to the shoe during the driving of the first nails. In America clips are not used, and when American machine-made shoes were first introduced into London they were fitted without clips. I am bound to confess that these shoes did not shift on the feet to any noticeable extent, but they are now all fitted with clips so I suppose the workmen found they were an advantage. The greatest evil resulting from clips is seen in slovenly fitting, when the farrier with his knife carves out a great hole in the wall in which to imbed the clip. As a clip is flat it cannot be fitted to the rounded face of the wall, but all that is necessary is to reduce the round to a flat surface with the rasp, so that the clip may rest on it, care being taken that at the extreme edge the horn is not left so prominent as to be unduly pressed upon when the clip is driven close to the wall. It is easy to lame a horse by violently hammering up the clip, especially when the horn behind it has been so much cut away as to leave only a thin protecting layer. A clip should only be hammered up sufficiently to leave it firmly applied to the wall. A bad workman in making his clip may spoil the foot-surface of a shoe by causing a bridge on the bearing surface of the iron at the toe, and this, on thin or flat feet, may cause lameness.

A very unsightly appearance and very defective work results from the fireman leaving his clip at right angles to the line of the shoe. It should be inclined backwards at about the same slope as the portion of wall against which it is to rest. The two diagrams ([Fig. 57]) illustrate what is meant.

Fig. 57.—Toe Clips.

Hot and Cold Fitting. When an engineer or a carpenter has two surfaces to fit together with great exactness he employs some colouring material to show where they do come in contact and where they do not. When a farrier fits a shoe to a horse's foot he tests its adaptation by applying it at a dull red heat to the horn. This proceeding shows with precision the bearing surfaces, as the horn is charred in proportion to the contact. If the shoe be found not to fit exactly, it is taken back to the anvil and altered. It is then again for a few seconds applied to the horn and the surface of contact examined. This proceeding is repeated until sufficient exactness is arrived at and then the shoe is cooled ready for nailing on. As horn is a bad conductor of heat this process of "hot-fitting" does no harm to the sensitive structures within the hoof unless it be carried to an extreme. When the horn is very thin the heat of a shoe retained too long in contact with it does serious mischief, and the injury known as a burnt sole has often resulted from careless work. If a shoe, whilst being altered to fit a foot, were cooled each time it was laid on the hoof, it would have to be re-heated before the necessary alterations could be made and this would cause great waste of time. The abuse of hot-fitting may do harm without any direct burning of the sole. An ill-fitting hot shoe may be held on the hoof until it beds itself into the horn and thus a complete correspondence between the surface of the foot and the surface of the shoe be effected. Such a proceeding is well described as "fitting the foot to the shoe" and is not only destructive to the horn but damaging to the foot by permitting an uneven shoe to look as though it were properly fitting. When hot-fitting is used and not abused—when it is adopted merely to indicate how and where the shoe fits, and not to make it appear to fit—I consider it has many advantages over cold-fitting. With some feet and some shoes it is quite possible to produce a good fit without heating the shoe. When a shoe requires much alteration to bring it into exact correspondence with the foot, even the most expert farrier cannot do justice to his work with cold iron—he gets as near to a fit as he can and when the hoof is strong little harm is done. The best work is that which includes the greatest exactness of fit, and uneven pressure or loose shoes result from inferior work. A badly fitted shoe requires more nails to retain it in place, and experience has shown that hot-fitted shoes give a smaller average of loose or lost shoes than those cold-fitted. The slight charring of the end of the horn fibres which results from proper hot-fitting has never been found to do injury, and it apparently has some advantages. One is that the surface of the hoof less readily absorbs moisture than when not charred. Another is that the horn is softened for a time and expanded, allowing nails to be easily driven, and then contracting and retaining them more firmly. The objection to hot-fitting applies only to its abuse. The advantages are greater exactness of fit, greater security that the shoe will be firmly retained on the foot, and greater facility in the operation of shoeing. Perhaps I ought to add that when cold-fitting is inevitable machine-made shoes are the best, because they are more regular in form, and more often level on the foot-surface than hand-made shoes. Army studs on active service, and studs used in coal mines comprise, perhaps, the only animals upon which cold-fitting is unavoidable.

Fig. 58.

Tips are short shoes protecting only the foremost half of the foot. Upon grass or soft roads tips are quite sufficient to prevent undue wear of the hoof. Even upon hard roads tips will protect the hoof in dry weather, but in wet seasons the horn becomes softened, and then that part coming in contact with hard road-surfaces wears rapidly and lameness may follow. Tips require more care in use than shoes because they protect from wear only the toe, and when retained on the foot too long a time cause the hoof to become very disproportionately long at the toe. In fitting a tip care must be taken to afford the horse a level surface to bear on. The unprotected horn at the back of the foot must take a bearing on the ground level with the ground-surface of the tip. If there is sufficient horn on the foot this can be easily effected by only removing the overgrown wall to just the length the tip extends and leaving the horn behind untouched. Where there is not sufficient superfluous horn this method cannot be used, and we apply a tip gradually thinned off towards its hinder extremities. If a little horn can be removed obliquely from the front half of the foot by a few strokes of the rasp this "thinned" tip is more easily fitted so as to get a level surface on the ground. When a horse has worn this form for a month it is generally possible to bring a tip, of even thickness throughout, into the same line of bearing as the horn at the heels.

Fig. 59.—Foot prepared for a tip.

Fig. 60.—An ordinary and a "thinned" tip.

Tips do not give a good foot-hold on grass, but they afford greater security of tread on hard smooth roads and on ice than long shoes. The great advantages of tips are two-fold—they are light, and they permit the greatest freedom of movement and action in the posterior part of the foot. In some cases of chronic foot lameness the use of tips and regular work will effect soundness when every other method of treatment has failed.

Fig. 61.—Groove for Charlier shoe formed by cutting away strip of wall.

Fig. 62.—Section of Charlier shoe on foot.

The Charlier System is a method of shoeing which a few years ago took a very prominent hold on the fancy of horse-owners. Like every other system it has advantages and disadvantages—it has prejudiced enemies and indiscreet friends. The principle or theory upon which it is based may be thus stated. The lower border of the wall is, it is said, the chief sustaining structure of the hoof, and as all that is required of a shoe is to prevent undue wear, therefore, remove a small strip of the lower border of the wall and substitute for it a similar sized strip of iron, and we shall protect from wear at the same time that we leave entirely to nature every other part of the hoof—sole, frog, and bars. This seems eminently simple and logical, but it is easy to show that it is more plausible than true. First, I would point out that the wall only is not the natural sustaining structure of the hoof. The wall and the sole at its connection with the wall is. Next I deny that the Charlier system does "leave entirely to nature every other part of the hoof." In cutting away the wall from the sole to affix the shoe, the natural function of the sole is seriously interfered with, and the bearing on the wall which ought to be partially distributed over the arch of the sole is limited to the wall. It is claimed that when the foot has had time to grow the sole will be found on a level with the shoe, and thus directly sharing in the weight-sustaining function. I have examined many feet shod by Charlier specialists, and have never yet seen the sole of a hind foot level with the shoe three days after the shoeing. Only once have I seen the sole of the fore foot level with the shoe after a week's wear. I am often apologetically told, "Well, it is not quite in wear, but it is not an eight of an inch below the surface of the shoe." Quite so, it is nearly in wear, but if not actually in wear what becomes of the principle? The sole is not directly in wear and bearing is confined to the wall. As to the frog, the Charlier affords no greater use to it than any other shoe of a similar thickness, unless instead of being placed on sound firm horn it be dangerously let down into the hoof so that its edge approaches very closely to the sensitive foot. It is sometimes difficult to arrive at the truth as to the significance of the phrase "embedding or letting down" the shoe of the Charlier system. At one time we are assured that "the shoe is not sunk, the sole is permitted to grow up." When this is so, very little positive objection to the system can be taken, because the shoe then rests at the same level on firm horn as does any other narrow shoe; but then the frog takes no better bearing than in other systems and the superfluous growth of horn on the sole is of no value. When the shoe is really "let down" of course the frog does receive increased pressure—it is forced to share with the wall the primary function of sustaining weight instead of, as in nature, taking only a secondary share of such action. It does this at the expense of a shoe placed so close to the "quick" that if the upper and inner border of iron be not bevelled off, immediate lameness results. When the Charlier shoe was first introduced it was applied the full length of the foot, but it was found that when thinned by wear the heels spread and led to injury of the opposite leg or to its being trodden off. Now the Charlier is only applied like a tip round the front portion of the surface of the foot, and it therefore partakes of some of the advantages I have credited to tips. It is a very light shoe and only requires small nails to fix it securely, but as the shoe is only the width of the wall the nails have to be driven solely in the wall, and their position is open to the objection applying to all too fine nailing. The disadvantages of the Charlier are its being "let down" too near the quick, its limited bearing, and its fine nail holes; the advantages are the lightness and the freedom given to the back of the foot, both of which are attainable with a narrow tip not let down. One very apparent effect resulting from the use of the Charlier system is the alteration in the action of the horse. All knee action is lost, and some horses go decidedly tender whilst others acquire a low shooting stride, which is certainly not in accordance with our notions of good free locomotion.

Fig. 63.—Groove for modified or short Charlier.

Fig 64.—A Tip laid on, not let down.

[CHAPTER VII.]
Roughing.

In winter, ice, snow, and frost, render roads slippery, and it is necessary to provide some arrangement whereby horses may have the greatest security of foot-hold. In countries such as Canada or Russia, where a regular winter sets in at a tolerably uniform date and continues without intermission for some months, it is easier to adopt a good system of "roughing" than in Great Britain. There, on a thick layer of ice or snow, sharp projections on the shoes cut into the surface and afford foot-hold. The edge of the projections is not soon blunted, and when once properly placed their duration is as long as the time desirable for retaining the shoe. Here, very different conditions obtain. Sometimes a week or two of frost and snow may prevail, but more frequently the spells of wintry weather are counted by days. Two or three days of frost and then two or three days of mud and slush, to be followed by either dry hard roads or a return of ice and snow, is our usual winter. We require during this time to provide for occasional days, or more rarely for weeks, of frost-bound roads. Our horses' shoes wear about a month and then require replacing by new ones. When roads are hard and dry we want no sharp ridges or points about our horses shoes, and yet we must always be able at twenty-four hours notice to supply some temporary arrangement which will ensure foot-hold.

The necessity for "roughing" and the evil effects of continuing to work unroughed horses on slippery frost-bound roads is demonstrated in London every winter by a very significant fact. If after three days of ice and snow, anyone will visit a horse-slaughterers' yard, he will find the place full of dead horses which have fallen in the streets and suffered incurable or fatal injury. A sudden and severe attack of ice and snow half paralyses the horse traffic of a large town for a day or two, and many owners will sooner keep their horses in the stable than go to the expense of having them roughed. The loss in civil life from unpreparedness for ice and snow is very serious, but the loss which has fallen upon military movements from similar neglect is appalling. Napoleon's rout from Moscow in 1814, Bourbaki's flight into Switzerland in 1871, and the Danish retreat upon Koenigsgratz in 1865 are terrible instances of the frightful loss sustained when horses are unable to keep on their feet at a walk, let alone drag guns and wagons over an ice-covered surface.

Fig. 65.—Frost-nails, various.

A well-managed stud of horses which is required to face all weather and to work every day through an English winter should, from December 1st to March 1st, be shod in such a manner as to be easily and speedily provided with mechanism which will afford secure foot-hold. This may be effected by the use of moveable steel "roughs" or "sharps." Of course the cost is the argument against them, but this should be considered in view of the probability or certainty of loss which will follow from neglect. If we allow common humanity to animals to enter into the consideration, economy will be served by adopting a well arranged system of roughing. Every good horseman appreciates the enormity of over-loading, but neglect of roughing causes just as much cruelty. A horse that on a good road can properly draw a ton would be considered over-loaded with two tons, and his struggles to progress would at once attract attention. The same animal with half a ton on an ice-covered surface would suffer more exhaustion, fatigue, and fright, and run more risk of fatal injury than in the case of the over-loading, but his owner who would indignantly repudiate the one condition will designedly incur the other.

Probably this is only thoughtlessness, but it is a reflection on the prudence of a manager, and certainly not flattering to the feelings or intelligence of a man.

There are many ways of providing foot-hold for a horse on ice and snow. The most simple and temporary proceeding is to use frost-nails. [Fig. 65] shows various sizes and shapes of these articles.

They are not driven through the hoof like ordinary nails, but through the shoe only, which is prepared for their reception at the time of fitting. A shoe to carry frost-nails is fitted a little wider than usual at the heels and has at its extremities, or more often at its outer extremities, countersunk holes stamped and directed outwards so that the frost-nail can be safely driven through by anyone and its shank turned down over the shoe. There is a difficulty in firmly securing them, they are apt to work loose and then become bent and useless. If used on the inside heel of a shoe they constitute a danger to the opposite leg should they bend and protrude from under the shoe. As a temporary provision against a sudden frost or fall of snow they are useful—but they are only a make-shift.

The more permanent and effective system of "roughing" consists in removing the shoes and turning down a sharp chisel projection at the heels. In very bad weather a projecting edge is also laid across the toe of the shoe.

Fig. 66.—Heels of Fore and Hind Shoes, sharped.

The diagrams show the method of "sharping" a front and hind shoe at the heels only. The hind shoe, having calkins, is not much altered. The smith simply converts the square calkin into a sharp-edged one. The fore shoe having no calkins is turned down at the heels to afford enough iron to form the 'sharp.' But this shortens the shoe, and if it be repeated two or three times, as it often is, the bearing surface is spoiled, and the slightest carelessness in fitting the shoe causes a bruised heel. 'Roughing' is generally done in a hurry. A dozen horses reach the farrier's shop at one time and all desire to return to work with as little delay as possible. The work is perforce hurried through, careful fitting cannot be done, and bad-footed horses suffer accordingly. The dotted lines in [Fig. 66] show the original length of shoe, and the shortening which results from a second roughing.

All horse-owners know how many lame horses result from the repeated roughings necessitated by a week or two of wintry weather. Some of this is inevitable from the rush and hurry which cannot be prevented. Valuable horses with weak feet should not be submitted to any such risk. They should be shod with removable sharps. The mere fact of removing a horse's shoes perhaps five or six times in a month must injure the hoof. Add to this the shortening of the shoe, the raising of the heel by the roughing, and the irregular bearing due to hurried fitting and we have conditions which only the very strongest feet can endure without serious injury.

Fig. 67.—Toe Sharp.

For heavy draught horses, and for all where the roads are hilly, the toes as well as the heels must be 'sharped' when ice and snow are firm on the surface. [Fig. 67] shows this arrangement at the toe. The removable steel "sharps," of which I have spoken, are certainly the least objectionable method of providing foot-hold in winter. They are made in various sizes to suit all kinds of shoes. They vary in shape somewhat, but their form is more a matter of fancy than utility. One in each heel of a shoe is the usual number used but if snow and ice are plentiful and the roads hilly two additional "sharps" may be placed at the toe of the shoe.

Fig. 68.—Removable Steel Sharp.

Fig. 69.—Steel Sharps, screw.

At the time of fitting the shoes, holes are made by first punching a round hole through the heels—and through the toe if desired—then the hole is 'tapped' and a thread formed to fit it in the shank of the sharp which is to fill it. If the sharps are not immediately wanted the holes may be filled with corks to keep out the grit and dirt. When corks are used the wear of the shoe causes a burr to form round the edge of the hole, and before the sharp can be screwed in a "tap" must be worked into each hole to clear the thread. One great objection to this method is that as the shoe wears it becomes thinner, and if much worn the shank of the "sharp" may be too long, and when screwed home cause pressure upon the hoof and consequent lameness. To guard against this steel "blanks" are used to preserve the holes, and when a frost comes they are removed and the "sharps" put in.

The blanks vary in height and of course those least in height are best for the horse's action, but they must not be allowed to get so worn that it is impossible to remove them. These blanks are shown below.

Fig. 70.—Blanks, screwed.

Fig. 71.—Steel Sharps and Blank, Plug shanks.

The "tapping" and "screwing" of shoes is expensive, and in small shops must be done by hand. In large shops a gas engine and a machine would reduce the cost very greatly, and if the system came into general use this method of providing against frost-bound roads could be carried out at much less cost than now. With a view to economy and simplicity a sharp has been invented which requires no screw. The shank may be either round or square. A hole is punched in the heel of the shoe and carefully gauged to the size of the shank of the "sharp." The sharp is then put in and a tap of the hammer secures it. The difficulty is to get the hole in the shoe and the shank of the sharp of corresponding form and size. When this is done the sharp keeps its place and is not difficult to remove. Too often, however, they are not uniform, and then the sharp falls out or sometimes cannot be removed. When the holes are drilled instead of punched the fit is more exact, but this only applies to those with a round shank. A slight taper is given both to the hole and the shank of the "sharp." As with the screw sharps so with these, blanks are used to keep the holes open until the road-surface requires the sharp.

Fig. 72.—Steel Taps for screwing shoes.

No sharps should be left in shoes when the horses are stabled at night, as serious injuries to the coronet may result from a tread by the opposite foot. The coachman or horse-keeper must be supplied with a spanner to remove the screws, and with a tap to clear the holes if blanks are not used.

For roads not badly covered with snow and ice, sufficient security is afforded by some forms of india-rubber pads, which will be described in a future chapter.

[CHAPTER VIII.]
Injuries from Shoeing.

Even with the most careful farrier injury may occur during shoeing, or may arise as the result of the operation. Sometimes the foot, from its condition or form, renders an accident possible, and it may be so diseased, or defective, as to render shoeing with safety very improbable. Sometimes the shoe is to blame, and sometimes the nail or clip. A few words about each of the common injuries may be useful as helps to their avoidance or as guides to their remedying.

From nails two kinds of injury may result. The most common arises from the nail being driven too near the sensitive parts, and is known as a bind. The nail does not really penetrate the sensitive foot, but is so near as to press unduly upon it. This condition causes lameness, which is generally not noticed till a day or two after the shoeing. It is readily detected by the farrier on removing the shoe and trying all the tracks of the nails in the hoof by pressure with pincers. When the lameness is slight removal of the nail and one or two days rest are all that is required. When the lameness is great it may be suspected that the injury has caused the formation of matter within the hoof. This must, of course, be allowed to escape, and the services of a veterinary surgeon are advisable.

Any neglect in these cases, such as working the horse after lameness has appeared, or delay in removing the offending nail, may lead to very serious changes in the foot, or even to death of the horse.

Another injury caused by nails is from a direct puncture of the sensitive foot. This may be slight, as in cases where the farrier in driving the nail misdirects it and so stabs the sensitive parts, but immediately withdraws the nail knowing what has happened. The lameness resulting from this is usually slight. Very much more serious is the lameness resulting from a nail which pierces the sensitive foot and is not recognised at once by the farrier. As a rule, lameness is immediate, and should the horse perform a journey before the nail is removed, serious damage is certain to follow.

Want of skill in driving a nail is not always the chief cause of "binding" or "pricking" a horse. More often than not the form and position of the nail-holes is the primary cause, for if the nail-holes in the shoe are too "coarse" or badly pitched it is quite impossible to safely drive nails through them. Sometimes the nails are defective, and this was much more common when nails were all hand-made. Bad iron or bad workmanship led to nails splitting within the hoof, and whilst one half came out through the wall the other portion turned in and penetrated the sensitive foot causing a most dangerous injury. The best brands of machine-made nails, now generally used, are remarkably free from this defect.

No lameness resulting from injury by a nail should be neglected. If detected and attended to at once few cases are serious. If neglected, the very simplest may end in permanent damage to the horse. By treating these accidents as unpardonable, horse-owners rather encourage farriers to disguise them or to not acknowledge them. If the workman would always be careful to search for injury and when he found it acknowledge the accident, many simple cases would cease to develop into serious ones. Frank acknowledgement is always best, but is less likely to take place when it is followed by unqualified blame than when treated as an accident which may have been accompanied by unavoidable difficulties.

From clips lameness may arise. A badly drawn clip is not easily laid level and flat on the wall. When hammered down excessively it causes pressure on the sensitive foot, and lameness. When side clips are used—one each side of the foot—it is not difficult to cause lameness by driving them too tightly against the wall. They then hold the hoof as if in a vice. When shoes get loose or are partially torn off the horse may tread on the clip, and if it be high and sharp very dangerous wounds result.

From the shoe, injury results from any uneven pressure, especially when the horny covering of the foot is weak and thin. The horn becomes broken and split, and the bearing for a shoe is more or less spoiled. Flat feet are liable to be bruised by the pressure of the inner circumference of the shoe at the toe. Lameness from this cause is easily detected by removing the shoe and testing the hoof with the pincers. If attended to at once, and the bearing of the shoe removed from the part little injury results. If neglected, inflammatory changes in the sensitive parts are sure to arise.

Corns in horses are due to bruising of the angle of the sole by the heel of the shoe. A wide open foot with low heels is most likely to suffer, but any foot may be injured. The most common seat of injury is the inner heel of a fore-foot. Even a properly fitted shoe may cause a corn if retained too long upon a foot, as then, owing to the growth of the hoof, its extremity is carried forward from beneath the wall so as to press upon the sole. A short shoe, fitted too close on the inside, is the most common cause of corn. To guard against the shoe being trodden on by the opposite foot the inside is generally fitted close, and to guard against being trodden on by the hind foot it is often fitted short. Thus to prevent accidents of one kind methods are adopted which, being a little overdone, lead to injury of another. A not uncommon error in the preparation of the foot for shoeing may also lead to the production of the so-called corn. If the wall on the inside heel be lowered more than it should be the horn of the sole is left higher than the wall, and then a level shoe presses unevenly upon the higher part.

A corn, be it remembered, is not a tumour or a growth, it is merely a bruise of the sensitive foot under the horn of the sole. It shows itself by staining the horn red, just as a bruise on the human body shows a staining of the skin above it. To "cut out a corn" with the idea of removing it is simply an ignorant proceeding. If a corn be slight all that is necessary is to take off the pressure of the shoe, and this is assisted by removing a thin slice or two of horn at the part. When the injury is very great matter may be formed under the horn, and of course must be let out by removal of the horn over it. Provided there is no reason to believe that matter has formed, a corn, i.e., the bruised and discoloured horn, should not be dug out in the ruthless manner so commonly adopted. Cutting away all the horn of the sole at the heels leaves the wall without any support. When the shoe rests upon the wall it is unable to sustain the weight without yielding, and thus an additional cause of irritation and soreness is manufactured. The excessive paring of corns is the chief reason of the difficulty of getting permanently rid of them. The simplest device for taking all pressure off a corn is to cut off an inch and a half of the inner heel of the shoe. With the three-quarter shoe ([Fig. 73]) a horse will soon go sound, and his foot will then resume its healthy state. The saying "once a corn, always a corn" is not true, but it is true that a bruised heel is tender and liable to bruise again, from very slight unevenness of pressure, for at least three months. All that is necessary is care in fitting and abstention from removal of too much horn at the part. Of course when the degree of lameness is such as to suggest that matter is formed the horn must be cut away so as to afford an exit for it, but the majority of corns are detected long before the stage of suppuration has resulted from a bruise.

Fig. 73.—Three-quarter Shoe.

A burnt Sole. In fitting a hot shoe to a foot it sometimes happens that the sensitive parts under the sole at the toe are injured by heat. This is most likely to occur with a foot on which the horn is thin, especially if it also be flat or convex. Burning the sole is an injury which must be put down to negligence. It does not occur from the shoe being too hot but from its being too long retained, and may be expected when the fireman is seen holding a dull-red hot shoe on to a foot, with a doormen assisting to "bed it in" by pressing it to the foot with a rasp. When the heat of a shoe penetrates through the horn with sufficient intensity to blister the sensitive parts of the foot great pain and lameness result. In many cases separation of the sole from the "quick" takes place, and some weeks pass before the horse can resume work.

Treads are injuries to the coronet caused by the shoe of the opposite foot, and are usually found on the front or inside of the hind feet. The injury may take the form of a bruise and the skin remain unbroken, it may appear as a superficial jagged wound, or it may take the form of a tolerably clean cut, in which case, although at first bleeding is very free, ultimate recovery is rapid. Bruises on the coronet—just where hair and hoof meet—are always to be looked upon as serious. The slighter cases, after a few days pain and lameness, pass away leaving only a little line showing where the hoof has separated from the skin. This separation is not serious unless a good deal of swelling has accompanied it, and even then only time is required to effect a cure. In more serious cases an extensive slough takes place, and the coronary band which secretes the wall may be damaged. The worst cases are those in which deep seated abscesses occur, as they often terminate in a "quittor." The farrier should always recognise a tread as possibly dangerous and obtain professional advice.

It is a common custom to rasp away the horn of the wall immediately beneath any injury of the coronet, but it is a useless proceeding which weakens the hoof and does no good to the inflamed tissues above or beneath.

Treads are most common in horses shod with heavy shoes and high calkins—a fact which suggests that a low square calkin and a shoe fitted not too wide at the heels is a possible preventive.