The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

124 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
Now we come to the much-vexed question of what
is the best system of shoeing our horses. The writer
does not advocate one system more than another, but
will try and point out the faults in most of them, and,
contrary to most writers, will begin with the cart horse
first, because he is the worst shod, unless it is indeed the
blacksmith's own horse. What class of shoe is best
adapted for the ordinary use of the farm horse ? Most
smiths and farmers like putting on heavy wide-web
shoes—the farmer, from the belief that the heavy shoe
has most wear ; and the smith, who generally contracts
for farm horses by the year, thinks that the more iron
he puts on the horse, the less times he will have to shoe
hirn during the year. This is a system void of economy,
both to the shoeing-smith and farmer, as proof is not
wanting that tlie narrow-web light shoe will wear longer
and the horse will go easier than with broad heavy shoes.
Mr. Douglas some years ago tried the experiment of
shoeing the heavy van horses of one of the London
railway companies with light narrow shoes. He took
off one horse a set of shoes that after they were
worn out weighed 71b. 14oz , and put a set o±
new narrow-web shoes on the same horse which only
weighed 71b. 4oz., or lOozs. less than the old worn-out
shoes. The horse was put to the same work, with a
result that the new narrow-web shoes wore four
weeks and two days, and the broad heavy shoes only
wore three weeks and four days. Mr. Douglas did not
know what was the weight of the old shoes when put
upon the horse, but it is only reasonable to think they
would weigh 16 lb. the set, as thev would no doubt be