Mower County Transcript

THE FEET OF HORSES.
Should Be Given Attention from Colt- hood Up.

The horse's feet should be given attention from his birth. Trim them into shape with pinchers which are provided for this purpose, using rasp or knife to finish up with. Some hoofs are inclined to be one-sided. This can be corrected by trimming. If you want to keep your horse's limbs and shoulders sound you must take good care of his feet and keep them in good condition. "Scratches" generally arise from allowing the feet to remain wet over night. The skin over the heel cracks and causes great pain. The best cure is prevention.

Farmers frequently injure horses' feet before they get them shod, says the Indiana Farmer. As a rule they take up the colt to work him at about three years old. He is generally then as nature formed him, with sound feet and plenty of hard hoof to protect the joint in the inside of the foot and with also plenty of knee and shoulder action. As a rule, a colt is too young to shoe at this age, if he could do without it, but if you use him as a general purpose horse over the hard roads, you are compelled to shoe him; this being the case, I believe the colt should be shod while he has a good foot to shoe—before it becomes foot-sore, while he has plenty of hard hoof to nail the shoe to, and good knee and shoulder action. A great many farmers neglect this and use the horse until his feet are worn off, which is a sad mistake. Another point. Don't let the shoes stay on too long. No shoe should stay on a horse longer than eight weeks. In that time they should be taken off and reset to the feet.