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RECOMMENDATION TO FARRIERS & SHOEING-SMITHS

Throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain,

IN RESPECT TO THE

INJURIOUS PRACTICE OF SLICING AND CUTTING AWAY THE HORN FROM THE FROGS OF

HORSES' FEET,

[London, 3d. Ed. 1837.

THIS baneful practice is still carried on to a shameful
extent, and even increasingly so, we have thought, as it were
perversely in opposition to the recommendations and efforts
made to suppress it, and sometimes ignorantly, by which the feet
of Horses are brought into a state of painful tenderness and unfit-
ness for service, and are thereby prematurely ruined; we are
induced therefore, from seeing fully the mischiefs of such pro-
ceedings, to draw up this short remonstrance, shewing from the
plainest reasoning the fallacy of the grounds usually advanced
by the Shoers of Horses for this practice, that they may not,
through absolute ignorance, be offending in this respect; and
which, it is hoped, will have weight with the candid and well-
disposed, and that Masters by informing their Men, especially
ne.w comers into the trade and young men of it, these ruinous
measures may be avoided.

The following is a clear statement of what those who are
the advocates for the practice advance in iis defence, and the
answers thereto.

The first and most usual plea for cutting the Horn of this part
is, " that it grows as the other parts of the Foot, and would grow all
over the Foot if let alone, and become too big for the Foot."

Answer. A more scrupulous examination of the growth of
the Horn of this part would teach them that the Horn of the
Frog grows only to a certain thickness, the bounds of which an
allwise Providence has beautifully ordained, and beyond which it
can never pass, for when it has reached this natural extent of
thickness of its Horn, it then loses its power of coherence and
falls into scurfs or scales and moulders away, leaving the figure
of the Frog ever entire, otherwise it is obvious every Horse in a
state of nature would constantly [from overgrowth become a
cripple ; so that this apprehension of its overgrowing the Foot
is without the smallest foundation; in fact, the removing it,
therefore, in whole slices on this account is obviously unnecessary'
and most mischievous, since it renders the remaining Horn thin
and by drying, liable to crack and let in wet. The sole also in
the same way we may observe, naturally exfoliates in flakes,
in the same manner as the Frog, on arriving at the assigned
limits of its thickness, that we need not be at all surprized that
the Frog is concurring in this same Jaw; it is therefore most
clear, that by removing this natural and very necessary covering
of the part, is in fact to deprive the animal of so much useful
defence, for no purpose whatever, and the horn thus thinned, is
only rendering the part more sensible and tender, which, as it is
often brought strongly upon the ground, is then too weak for
sustaining the impression of the weight, especially when opposed
to rough bodies of the road, and he falls; or being bruised, it
causes heat and inflammation, and its health and natural tough-
ness being lost, it dries, hardens, contracts, and splits- and thus
Assures are formed, which give lodgment to wet and dirt, and
the part becoming undermined, is cankered and destroyed with
grievous suffering.

^J^_a^sec,?^nd P^lea used for defending this practice is,' To remove
cnttint/^fVi, ^ow this appears a more plausible pretext for
Ra J_aithan the former, but let us examine and see what these
PoiSt Pnr^a2 ■ ^the,^y ^are ^made> ^which will clear up this

natural vLcl '* ^m°^St ^obvious ^on inspection, that the healthy
exterior surfar. tfTi��.�^ of Shoeing has a smooth

times from natural causes, but by far the most frequent and
general way is from this previous cutting), now to remove these
pretended Rags, they make a deeper incision than the Rag,
and so expose still more interiorly the Horn of the part and
so increase the evil by producing more and deeper Rags, and
going nearer and nearer to the quick at each successive cutting,
the Frog is at last fairly flayed, and robbed of nearly all its
Horn, and drying and shrinking, becomes hard, brittle, and
painful to the animal, and so thin and tender for contact of hard
bodies, as stones, &c. of the road, that breaking up, wet and dirt,
as we have before stated, get in and canker and destroy the
internal parts, and so is produced a source of misery and danger,
in the use of him, of the most grievous kind; as well might
people propose to cut away the balls of a dog's foot previous to
going to the field to hunt, as thus to denude the Frog of its
natural covering before his going to work, or upon a journey.

Some of the Smiths seem to think this organ cannot be cut
too much; others that it may be cut in moderation ; but after
deep research and investigation of this matter, the writer of this
is led into the most thorough conviction, that this singular organ
wants no cutting at all, and indeed there are now in consequence
of his suggestions, several aged horses, whose Frogs were never
cut, and they are the handsomest, healthiest, and strongest
Furches or Frogs that he has ever seen, and in this case the
Frog Stay assumes a fine lozenge form with great beauty and
strength of its external margin.

The comparison or analogy of the Frog with the balls beneath
the dog's foot, or to the pads of the elephant or sponges of the
camel, is perfectly just and correct, and the one requires just as
much cutting as the other; and further, it is a singular fact, which
he has lately observed with a degree of surprise, that if a
very deep slice of the horn be taken away from the frog, it never
after is perfectly renewed again, so that the mischief is
incalculable and most frightful, and destruction indescribable, that
has been, and is now continually doing by thus cutting away
the Frog of the Horse's foot through sheer ignorance.

Another inducement we have thought for cutting the part is,
the soft consistence of the part, which being like elastic leather or
cheese, is inviting to the knife. There is also a delusive
expression much used, which has the same mischievous ten-
dency, viz., the unmeaning phrase of Coachmen and others,
who certainly are not acquainted with the ceconomy of the part,
and who direct the Smiths, " iowell pare oat the foot,-" now the
word well so delusively employed in this case, is quite as easily
used with mischievous as with good measures, and as it is in this
case a most gross and unwarrantable assumption, and leads to
incalculable evil, so against itall honest practitioners' and those
having the welfare of their art or of their Horses m view,
should be upon their guard; and these Coachmen should leave the
things not belonging to their department to those whose business
it is to know and understand them better. Notching tne
lnfiexures is also quite as, if not even more injurious, by weakening
or destroying the very frame of the hoof. . ., . _f8PB

The excuse of late has beer, that the masters of the norses
will have it done: yes, trulr, if they have been previously
persuaded by their own servants, taught by the smiths. Also tne
young novice in shoeing, with his uewly acquired sharp weapon,
the fatal drawing knife| will easily commit more havoc in one
minute than years can repair, the owner perhaps looking on, ana
applauding the act that ruins his horse. .

The rasping off the Cuticle or rind of the Hoof, is also quite
as unnecessary and a most pernicious proceeding, leaving the
hoof to a merciless drying and hardening by the air.

-culent nXrt d^L^ and

drying, cracks; the> edi^nf Ti!^ " ^ln ^drv rather, and by
?r are reflected', and be^omi wfe⁶ ^Cn?�* °r fissures turn back,

*» also true that <�^tZ�&^�%� ^p, (thou

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Distributed Gratis to _be , � ^ ""* '"""

^ ^hUn9UpinF0r^ or Sold to _such Gentle

men a s wish to have them in the Forge they respectively Shoe at, at 6d. each

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