The shoes differ from those of the horse in no other respect than that they should be lighter and narrower. Four nail-holes are sufficient for an ass’ shoe, and five to six for a mule’s.
On account of the hardness and toughness of the walls, we use nails that are short but strong in the shank; nails with weak shanks are apt to bend in driving.
Fig. 225.
A mule’s hoof.
(Plantar surface).
Fig. 226.
A shod ox-claw.
2. The shoeing of oxen is essentially different from that of horses, because the foot of the ox is cloven (split), the long pastern, short pastern, and hoof-bone are double, so that, instead of one hoof or claw, there are two upon each foot, distinguished as outer and inner. Each claw consists of wall, sole, and bulbs; the frog is absent. The wall is considerably thinner than that of the horse’s hoof, the sole is thin, and the bulbs are low. For these reasons the shoe designed for a claw must be thin, but wide.
The holes must be punched fine and the nails be quite short and strong. On each shoe a long tongue should be made on the inner edge near the toe, and so directed that it can be turned upward and outward to embrace the toe of the claw. A small clip raised on the outer toe of each shoe will increase its stability. In some parts of Saxony the shoes are so made that the tongue of each shoe begins in the rear third of its inner edge and runs forward, upward, and outward, closely embracing the wall of the toe. The smaller clip is drawn up on the outer edge of the shoe close to the toe. These shoes are more difficult to make, but when applied sit more firmly and remain fast longer than all others. Machine-made ox shoes ([Fig. 227]) have no clip at the inner toe, and are frequently pulled and lost. For this reason they are inferior to hand-made shoes. An undivided shoe (the so-called “closed claw-shoe”) is unsuitable for oxen, because it deprives both claws of their natural, free movements. However, such a shoe is of advantage for heavy draft over hard and very rough roads, because it lessens the liability of the fetlock and coronary joints and the cleft of the claws to strains.