Hints on Shoeing

"If you please, Sir, the axle of the cart is broken."
"Then send it to the blacksmith."
"And Highflyer requires new shoes."
"Then send him to the blacksmith."

And so the axletree and the horse go to the forge, in many instances to be operated on in a most impartial manner. Now a very large proportion of persons who keep horses, never give a second thought about the shoeing of the animals they ride, or drive, and yet of all things it is the most important to the welfare of the horse, and the safety of the rider. A blacksmith who can weld an axle, is not always the man who can be trusted to shoe a horse; common sense, if not the nobler and better feeling of mercy, should warn us against the shoer who does not know anything of the interior construction of the hoof he is about to nail an iron shoe on.

Without going into a learned or tedious description of the hoof, it will suffice to say that there is a bone, called the navicular bone, under which passes a tendon, forming together the navicular joint. This joint is most sensitive, and to preserve it from injury, page 20 nature has placed beneath and around it a soft cushion of fleshy substance, which from bad shoeing, becomes at length to a certain extent horny and hard, and of course permanent lameness follows.

The process the blacksmith generally pursues when shoeing a horse is:—firstly to pare and rasp the hoof, until the horny sole gives under pressure of the thumb; he then "opens the heel," that is to say, he cuts away the frog, a most wanton proceeding, and very often removes the sides of the "bars," merely to give a neat appearance to the foot, which most blacksmiths imagine should be round; in cutting the frog he pares off the convex sides, which give the frog the shape of a heart, as represented in valentines, and makes them concave, instead of allowing them to remain as nature formed them, convex; the shoe is then fitted to the hoof, or as often occurs, the hoof is then fitted to the shoe by being cut and rasped down to the burnt horn that the hot shoe has charred; nails are then driven, generally opposite to each other, completely confining the foot, and preventing the expansion of the hoof, which expansion is as necessary to the preservation of this limb as a free passage of blood is necessary for the healthy condition of any portion of the body. Nature has made a horny substance to protect the horse's feet, and man has made a drawing knife to cut this protection away. Nature places the frog in the hoof to keep the interior portions of the foot in their proper places and in a healthy condition, and man does his best to thwart nature, with whom he seems constantly at war, by scooping page 21 out the hoof, and leaving the smallest possible protection to the sensitive flesh within.

The use of the "drawing knife" should always be made with the greatest care and judgment, and only those portions of the sole removed that are likely, from their flint like substance, to interfere with the protection, action, and support of the coffin bone; but while one horse requires the drawing knife to be used to clear the sole of his foot, another may not have any surplus horn that can be dispensed with, and therefore great care should be taken in this operation. But while there is a difference to be observed in the structure of the soles of the feet of individual horses, and judgment is required in treating these differences, there is only one way of treating the "frog," and that is to "leave it alone." Every piece of horny substance cut off from it exposes the delicate texture beneath to the air, and to contact with the ground, either of which is most detrimental to it. It was but a short time ago that I had to examine a horse, sent to the Police Barracks for sale; on looking at the poor creatures hoofs, which bore an extraordinary appearance, I found the frog reduced (by the practice of cutting away the sides) to a thin groove in the hoof, so cracked and withered, that not a particle of its delicate texture remained; its heart shape had entirely disappeared, and as a certain consequence the heel had contracted so much as to interfere considerably with the action of the crippled animal. What the poor brute had suffered, or was then suffering, from the effects of the ignorance of his shoer, no one can page 22 tell; but those who know something of the delicate structure of the hoof, can imagine the dreadful pain the poor uncomplaining creature had to endure.

If blacksmiths who undertake to shoe horses, and who have neither the means or the inclination to study the structure of the hoof, would only observe the following rules, we should have fewer horses with crippled feet than we now unfortunately possess.

Firstly, let the drawing knife be used with care and caution, the thick part of the toes of the forefeet may sometimes require it, but the heels seldom. It may be as well to remark here, that the toe of the fore hoof is thicker than the heel; the hindfoot on the contrary, is thicker in the heel and quarter than at the toe.

Secondly, avoid as you would strong drink, the practice of opening out the heels; this practice ensures a contracted hoof.

Thirdly, leave the frog untouched by the knife, nature will do everything requisite for the preservation of this part of the hoof unassisted by art.

Fourthly, let the nails of the shoe be so placed that they may not be directly opposite to each other, as this method confines the foot in an iron vice, and destroying its elasticity, prevents the expansion of the horny part of the hoof.

Fifthly, make the shoe strong and moderately thick, a thin shoe will bend and cause a strain on the nails' which by dragging on the hoof will give pain, or if it breaks it will bruise with the broken edges, the hoof.

page 23

Above all things, bear in mind the fact, that the hoof of a horse is of a most delicate and complicated structure, very sensitive, filled with bloodvessels and nerves, arranged in such a way by nature that any injudicious interference most certainly leads to sad consequences, attended with severe pain to the horse, while it procures no benefit to the master. In my opinion, one of the principal objects of the shoer should be to preserve in a healthy and natural state that part of the inner hoof called the "fatty frog," or "elastic cushion," as on this rests the navicular joint, the most sensitive part of the hoof; where inflammation almost always commences, and where injury is irreparable. To do this, the outer frog and all the after part of the hoof must be preserved in the state in which nature has formed them; no paring or pruning with the drawing knife, to produce the effect of making the shoer's work look "neat," should for one moment be entertained or permitted.