This variety is probably a breed betwixt the king Charles’s dog and the small water spaniel, to which last it seems most nearly allied. It has long and slightly curled hair, and its eyes are almost hid in the curls. It is of a small size, and is used in this country and on the continent as a lap-dog. It is a useless little animal, seeming to possess no other quality than a faithful attachment to its mistress.
I have never seen one of these diminutive little creatures which would take the water, although they possess all the requisites for swimming. This may probably be accounted for from the frequency of their immersion in that element, contrary to their inclination, for the purpose of washing them.
Shoe, s. The cover of the foot; the iron plate which defends a horse’s hoof.
Shoe, v. To fit the foot with a shoe; to cover at the bottom.
Shoeing, v. To affix the shoe to the hoof.
The Preparation of the Foot.—We will suppose that the horse is sent to the forge to be shod. If the master would occasionally accompany him there, he would find it much to his advantage. The old shoe must be first taken off. We have something to observe even on this. It was retained on the foot by the ends of the nails being twisted off, turned down, and clenched. These clenches should be first raised, which the smith seldom takes the trouble thoroughly to do; but after going carelessly round the crust, and raising one or two of the clenches, he takes hold first of one heel of the shoe, and then of the other, and by a violent wrench separates them from the foot, and by a third wrench, applied to the middle of the shoe, he tears it off. By this means he must enlarge every nail hole, and weaken the future hold, and sometimes tear off portions of the crust, and otherwise injure the foot. The horse generally shows by his flinching that he suffers by the violence with which this preliminary operation is performed. The clenches should always be raised or filed off; and where the foot is tender, or the horse is to be examined for lameness, each nail should be partly punched out. Many a stub is left in the crust, the source of future annoyance, when this unnecessary violence is used.
The shoe having been removed, the smith proceeds to rasp the edges of the crust. Let not the stander-by object to the apparent violence which he uses, or fear that the foot will suffer. It is the only means he has, with safety to his instruments, to detect whether any stubs remain in the nail-holes, and it is the most convenient method of removing that portion of the crust into which dirt and gravel have insinuated themselves.
Next comes the important process of paring out, with regard to which it is almost impossible to lay down any specific rules. This, however, we can say with confidence, that more injury has been done by the neglect of paring, than by carrying it to too great an extent. The act of paring is a work of much more labour than the proprietor of the horse often imagines; the smith, except he be overlooked, will give himself as little trouble about it as he can; and that, which in the unshod foot would be worn away by contact with the ground, is suffered to accumulate month after month, until the elasticity of the sole is destroyed, and it can no longer descend, and the functions of the foot are impeded, and foundation is laid for corn, and contraction, and navicular disease, and inflammation. That portion of horn should be left on the sole, which will defend the internal parts from being bruised, and yet suffer the external sole to descend. How is this to be measured? The strong pressure of the thumb of the smith will be the best guide. The buttress, that most destructive of all instruments, being banished from the respectable forge, the smith sets to work with his drawing knife, and he removes the growth of horn until the sole will yield, although in the slightest possible degree, to the very strong pressure of his thumb. The proper thickness of horn will then remain.
If the foot has been previously neglected, and the horn is become very hard, the owner must not object if the smith resorts to some means to soften it a little; and if he takes one of his flat irons, and, having heated it, draws it over the sole, and keeps it a little while in contact with it. When the sole is thick, this rude and apparently barbarous method can do no harm, but it should never be permitted with the sole that is regularly pared out.