EVILS OF COMMON SHOEING.
E
very horseman finds his chief difficulty in the fact that he has to pro-
tect the natural foot from the wear incident to the artificial condition in
which the horse is placed in his relation to man. In those important indus-
tries where great numbers of horses are used, and the profit of the business
depends upon the efficiency of the animal, the question becomes a very se-
rious one, and the life term of the horse, or the proportion of the number
of animals that are kept from their tasks by inability, make the difference
between profit and loss to the great transportation lines that facilitate the
busy current of city life. But notwithstanding the importance of this sub-
ject, upon the score equally of economy and humanity, the world is, for the
most part, just where it was a thousand years ago, possibly worse off, for the
original purpose of shoeing was only to protect the foot from attrition or
chipping, and but little iron was used, but, as the utility of the operation be-
came apparent, the smith boldly took the responsibility of altering the form
of the hoof to suit his own unreasoning views, cutting away, as superfluous,
the sole and bars, paring the frog to a shapely smoothness, and then nailing
on a broad, heavy piece of iron, covering not only the wall but a portion of
3 JOHN E. (JOHN EDWARDS) RUSSELL
the sole also, thus putting it out of the power of the horse to take a natural,
elastic step.
In a short time the hoof, unbraced by the sole and bars, begins to contract,
the action of the frog upon the ground, which in the natural foot is threefold-
acting as a cushion to receive the force of the blow and thus relieve the nerves
and joints of the leg from concussion, opening and expanding the hoof by
its upward pressure, quickening the circulation and thereby stimulating the
natural secretions,-this all important part of the organization, withoutwhich
there is no foot and no horse, becomes hard, dry, and useless. Then follows
the whole train of natural consequences. The delicate system of joints in-
closed in the hoof feel the pressure of contraction, the knees bend forward
in an attempt to relieve the contracted heel. In this action the use of the leg
is partially lost. The horse endeavors to secure a new bearing, interferes in
movement, or stands in uneasy torture.
Nature frequently seeks relief by bursting the dry and contracted shell, in
what is known as quarter or toe crack, and the miserable victim becomes
practically useless at an age when his powers should be in their prime.
Every horseman will acknowledge that his experience has a parallel in the
picture here presented. Many men have at various times attempted reform,
but the difficulty heretofore encountered has been that the mechanical ap-
plication was in the hands, not of the owners and reasoners, but in those of
