For the past two weeks I have been making stops at various lumber yards, cement outlets and by National Hardware on Water Street, talking with horse-owners about the condition of their animals. I am concerned about the treatment some of these beautiful creatures are given. Many are tied in the hot sun, sometimes without water, while their owners sleep in the cool shade. But, what I find of greatest concern is the large number of horses without horseshoes.
Horse-cart owners told me they have shoes for their horses but are having a hard time locating the special horseshoe nails needed to secure them. They informed me that their normal supplier, National Hardware, didn’t have them. I stopped by National Hardware and spoke with Mr Sattaur who told me he is having difficulty securing the nails out of the USA and they are looking for suppliers in China and elsewhere. Since November there have been no horseshoe nails on the market. Consequently, many horses do not have shoes, some horses will go lame and their owners, out of frustration, will begin to mistreat them or simply stop using them. This will reduce the owner’s income and lead to further frustration.
The horse owners told me they pay $500 for each horseshoe and from $40 to $60 for each horseshoe nail, when they can find them. Since each shoe takes five nails, the cost of shoeing a horse is approximately $3,200 per horse, not including labour to prepare the hoof and attach the shoe. Considering that a set of shoes lasts a full-time working horse only 3 to 4 weeks, an owner must invest approximately $40,000 per year in horse footwear. With this high cost one can understand why many owners don’t replace the shoes for weeks or months at a time and the horses suffer as a result.
One horse I saw on Water Street was emaciated, had no proper bit, nor blind, nor shoes on his front feet. However, the owner did show me the two shoes he had bought for the horse but could not attach for the want of nails. I finally found a friendly horse owner who agreed to sell me nails which were then given to the other cart owner.
The moral of this little story is that what may appear to an importer as a very minor part of his trade can be extremely important to the small man and his horse on the street. I am appealing to good companies like National Hardware to source horseshoe nails as soon as possible to help these wonderful creatures.
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh
