to read all this discussion give the system advocated by ’Free Lance’ a fair trial; don’t be too hard at first, but work on gradually, and don’t be disheartened the first two months or so, while the horse’s feet are hardening.
Appendix E.
Horse-Shoeing.
Having lived for a considerable portion of my life in the Argentine Republic, allow me to say a few words about the shoeing of horses. In the camp, as the country is termed there, horses are never shod, but town horses are. As you are aware, there are no stones on the plains of the Argentine Republic. The soil is a rich black mould of a considerable depth. Horses, if their hoofs have not been accustomed by degrees to paved streets, will naturally go tender at first; therefore, the owners immediately clap shoes on them. It would be as absurd to expect a horse not reared in a stony country to go sound when first brought on to pavement, as it would to be surprised at a person who has never gone barefoot feeling uncomfortable when walking over gravel without shoes or stockings. Yet it only needs practice, and Nature will soon put a hard covering on the sole of the foot.
We could tell in an instant if a horse had come from the Sierras of Cordova or other stony mountain ranges. The hoofs are smaller than those of a Pampas horse; in fact, more mule-shaped and worn down by the hard ground, and not by artificial means; the horn is, moreover, very dense and free from cracks. Depend upon it
