Horseshoeing. 279 



celve ground to be. One of the horses was tlie property of the 

 builder, and the other belonGfed to the person who had contracted 

 to draw the stone from the quarry, and whose horses are chiefly 

 employed in drawing either timber or stone, than which no work 

 can be more trying to the security of horses* shoes at such a 

 season, and in such a county as Devon. I was present at the 

 shoeing of these horses, and saw them both shod with five nails 

 only in each fore shoe and a clip at the toe. The shoes were 

 plain waggon-horse shoes, with stamped holes and no fullering. 

 The builder's horse was a fair average cart horse 15 hands 3^ 

 inches high, and the shoes that were put on him weighed 1 lb. 

 14 ozs. each. The contractor's horse was a heavy waggon horse 

 16 hands and an inch high ; and I could scarcely have found a 

 fairer subject for my experiment : he has remarkably weak feet, 

 with hoofs full of what smiths call shaky places, and he is so hot 

 and impetuous in his work that the driver never can prevent him 

 doing much more than his share. I had one of his shoes mea- 

 sured and weighed just before it was nailed on, and found it to 

 be 6 inches across from side to side at the quarters, and 7 inches 

 from toe to heel, and it weighed exactly 2| lbs., so that each 

 nail in his shoe had to retain half a pound weight of iron and 

 hold it to his foot. 



I visited both the horses at the end of a fortnight, and found 

 their shoes not only safe on their feet, but not a clinch had risen, 

 neither had either of their shoes shifted in the smallest degree. 

 I was fortunate enough to meet the larger horse coming from the 

 quarry with a load of stone, and anything more satisfactory to 

 me, as regarded my experiment, or less satisfactory to the poor 

 brute, I cannot conceive; for he was literally plastered up to the 

 knees and hocks with a thick layer of red clay, and the spokes of 

 the wheels were in a like condition up to the nave, showing pretty 

 clearly the kind of ground he had had to deal with, and the sort 

 of test that had been applied to the security of his shoes. 



At the expiration of another fortnight I again examined the 

 shoes of both the horses, and finding those of the larger horse 

 completely worn out, I had them taken off and replaced by 

 new ones fastened by five nails ; the shoes of the other horse 

 not being worn out, I permitted him to carry them another 

 week, and then, considering he had worn them long enough 

 for my purpose, I had him reshod ; but wishing to make 

 my experiment as perfect as I could, I had two of the nails 

 omitted, and shod him with three nails only in each fore shoe ; 

 and at the end of four weeks I saw him at work with his shoes 

 safe on his feet. I do not mention this fact with the view of 

 trying to persuade others to shoe their horses with only tJiree 

 nails, although I have not had more than three nails in a fore 



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