SHOULD HORSES BE SHOD?

Bruce Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 2177, 24 June 1890, Page 4

SHOULD HORSES BE SHOD?

We learn from London that a collection of horse shoes being on view . at, the Animals' Institute, the question ; is being hotly debated aa to whether bo.raes should be shod at all. It is contended ., by some that the wisdom of .nailing an iron shoe on the hoof ia eitreir > ci i y doubtful, for the reasons „ thai/"withpiit this extra weight speed h may be. greater ; the foot, being flat , from the lrog and down to the ground, . leaves no receptacle for atones; there ia none of the unnecessary jar caused by the shoes, so that the animal travels freer , and lighter ; five or six pounds ,p^r annum are saved by non-shoeing and the horse can gallop on a road covered with ice.

The Society for Prevention of .Cruelty to Animals was so in favour of the old method that they gave it .put that they would prosecute anyone who. rode or drove without shoes; nevertheless,. more than one owner of horses has converted the now theory into practice. One doctor in London has been driving his horses for nearly ,a year past without shoes with the most satisfactory results. When the shoes were first removed the hoofs f were 'soft, and in order that they might harden and so return to the'r natural condition, the animal was kept on a hard floor for three months. 'Jit the close of the period he was put to work, and notwithstanding the wear and tear in all weathers, and on hard aid soft roads indiacriminantly, the hoofs are to-day perfectly sound. JEhe. .doctor's groom not on y confirms these advantages, but claims that the animal is saved from various diseases .'of, the foot caused by shoeing, while its Bure?footedness is most remarkable, 'tit. steps high and goes well, aud at the end of a day's work its feet are cool.