ON SHOEING. 51 



Their low cunning is sufficiently fruitful 

 to point out to them, that the sudden reduction 

 of a horse's heels which have been accustomed 

 to thick concave shoes, will be productive of 

 considerable pain and temporary lameness, and 

 will thereby furnish them with an opportunity 

 of asserting the justice of their predictions re- 

 specting the fallacy of the new mode of shoe- 

 ing. Hence, if a horse with high and con- 

 tracted heels, is sent to a blacksmith with or- 

 ders to have them reduced moderately at every 

 time of shoeing, he seldom lets slip the oppor- 

 tunity of bringing on the consequences before- 

 mentioned, by executing the orders to an extreme. 



Nor is this the only instance v/herein he has 

 it in his power to pervert the present system of 

 shoeing. For if a flat narrow shoe is recom- 

 mended as the best adapted for a good foot, the 

 same party will apply it to a pumied or convex 

 sole, knowing at the same time that a foot of 

 that description cannot possibly bear it, 



E 2 In 



