Evils of Common Shoeing.

Evils of Common Shoeing.

Every horseman finds his chief difficulty in the fact that he has to protect 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 industries 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 serious 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 subject, 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 became 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 the sole also, thus putting it out of the power of the horse to take a natural, elastic step.