Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/630

 to be influenced by clay or mud, and to do far less damage to the horse than this newly-invented one? Few men, I think, would be found who would ride a horse to hounds unless it had been previously shod for that purpose; and all who have ridden hard know that these shoes must be of a certain pattern, and be particularly firmly attached to the feet. The ordinary, light hunting-shoe is incomparably superior to the new invention in every respect; indeed, from the presence of toe-calks, the defective position and form of the nail-holes, and its clumsiness, this shoe is a very perilous and unsuitable one for the hunting-field, or even for ordinary road purposes, while the resuscitated method of cold-fitting makes it still less secure.

It will be observed from the figures given of this patented shoe, that the projections which stud its lower surface, and which have been more eloquently than correctly compared to ostrich claws, make it a most dangerous article; as in over-reaching, a horse must inflict serious wounds on itself, and in all probability come down with its rider, if it be a riding-horse, as their front edge is quite sharp; while horses that, through defective formation or temporary physical causes, are liable to strike their legs with the opposite feet, must inevitably produce grave wounds or contusions with a shoe of this kind. Being machine-made, the iron is not of such good quality as that of ordinary shoes, and to compensate for this, and insure wear for a reasonable time, thicker and heavier defences have to be worn. The nail-holes (eight in each shoe) are most defective in form and position, and being grouped in twos, must weaken the hoof by having the