276 Horseslioeing. 



the matter really stands l)et\veen them and their employers, who 

 accuse them of prejudice and obstinacy. We must not forget 

 that they have been accustomed from the period of their appren- 

 ticeship to shoe horses in one particular manner, which has 

 hitherto given satisfaction, and, as far as they know to the con- 

 trar}^, they have never lamed a horse. 



We must not be surprised, if, under these circumstances, 

 they should show great reluctance to relinquish plans which long 

 habit has rendered almost second nature to them, or if they 

 require to be thoroughly convinced of the practicability and 

 superiority of a new plan, before they consent to give up the 

 old one ; and as it is much more difficult to efface what has been 

 already learnt than to teach what is new, he who undertakes to 

 become an instructor, must at least be sufficiently master of his 

 subject to be able to point out pretty clearly the advantages of 

 the plan he proposes over that which he desires to alter ; to which 

 end he must acquaint himself with the details of his plan before 

 he ventures into the forge, for an intelligent smith will make a 

 very accurate estimate of his fitness to teach before he has been 

 many minutes there ; and I have no doubt but much of the ob- 

 stinacy and perversity one hears of may be traced to the smith's 

 having received impracticable, if not impossible, directions. And 

 surely it is not very unreasonable in him to object to carry out 

 details which he does not comprehend, and which he strongly 

 suspects his instructor is not very clear about, when he knows 

 full well that he would decline to share the blame with him, in 

 case the experiment should fail, and the horse cast a shoe. 



I have been sometimes surprised at the readiness with which 

 smiths have yielded their opinion to me, as soon as they found 

 that I really knew what 1 was talking about, and that I could 

 not only give them directions, but show them exactly how to 

 carry them out in detail, and, if I had only possessed the brawny 

 arm which is necessary for such a purpose, that I could have 

 forged the shoe and fitted it to the foot. They all feel that 

 horseshoeing is open to improvement, and as a class they are 

 anxious for information that they can depend on, but they are 

 naturally very shy of relinquishing plans which they have been 

 long accustomed to for others which they do not comprehend ; 

 but any gentleman who will take the trouble to acquaint himself 

 with the principle and details of the plan which I advocate, will 

 very soon become a welcome visitor at the forge, and while he is 

 improving the condition of his own horses' feet, he will find 

 that he is indoctrinating the whole district to the great benefit 

 of his neighbours ; for although they will not take trouble them" 

 selves, they are soon ready to avail themselves of the trouble 



