250 THE HORSE 



old shoes cannot be worked up again into new shoes. All 

 this extra labour means also more time, so that fewer shoes 

 can be put on in a given time than under the usual system. 

 The action of the horse is also somewhat altered, for with 

 such very light shoes a horse does not step so high as with 

 heavier ones, and this does not always please dealers, nor 

 also some grooms and owners. This mode of shoeing, 

 however, possesses many advantages besides those already 

 mentioned. An animal which brushes, either before or 

 behind, seldom does so with Charlier shoes, and at any rate 

 the evil is much lessened in degree ; and it is rare for a shoe 

 to be pulled off in deep ground. On the other hand, if 

 the nail-holes are punched askew, or a shoe is worn too 

 thin, the shoe may sometimes break, though if this should 

 happen no harm, as a rule, is done. Over-reaches also 

 seldom occur, and if they do they are very trivial, while the 

 lightness of the shoes demands less labour from the horse. 



In 1872 the writer was quartered in Ireland, and found 

 Charlier shoes extensively used, all the Galway Hunt horses, 

 amongst others, being shod with them, that famous pack, the 

 Blazers, being then under the Mastership of the celebrated 

 Mr. Burton Persse. The writer at once adopted the system, 

 and for many years used them exclusively on hunters, 

 chargers, and race-horses, and for these latter especially they 

 were very suitable, since there was no occasion to plate 

 them when they were going to run. In 1874, owing to 

 a difficulty in finding smiths skilled in putting on the 

 shoes, the writer started a shop of his own, which he 

 continued for three years, and the demand for the shoes 

 became so great there were soon three smiths in constant 

 work. From the very commencement the three-quarter 

 Charlier was adopted, which, in the writer's opinion, is 

 the proper one to use. 



The principle of the Charlier shoe is that it is needless for 

 a shoe to be wider than the rim of the crust, which is 

 all that needs protecting ; and secondly, if a groove is 

 cut in the rim sufficiently deep to embed the iron the horse 

 will stand naturally, as Nature intended him to do, thus 

 making full use of the frog. When this process is carefully 



