572 AET OF SHOEING. 



of the otherwise very objectionable mode. Our fullering, as 

 compared with the French stamping, calls for two and a-half 

 times more sledge-hammer blows than their system requires. 



In giving a definite opinion as to preference on the special 

 question of fullering or stamping, one is necessarily led to 

 pay some regard to custom, prejudices, and the habits to 

 which workmen in a country have been trained ; these points 

 settled, and all things equal, with free choice, we should 

 adopt the French method of stamping for all classes of 

 draught horses, and such as are employed for road work 

 generally ; whilst we should use our fullered shoe, as we do 

 with the rose-headed nail, for horses for hunting, training, 

 and, to a great extent, for riding work generally. 



Our motives, in the first case, would be economy of work- 

 men's labour, durability of the work, and conservation of the 

 horse's foot. 



Our reasons for using the fullered shoe for the class of 

 horses mentioned, are, that we believe it gives firmer foothold 

 on turf or in the hunting field. Moreover, the fullering spreads 

 the iron, and thereby gives circumference with lightness to the 

 shoe. In neither case, however, do we wish to be arbitrary in 

 pressing our suggestions ; as in both ways horses may be tho- 

 roughly well shod; on the other hand, the English wedge- 

 formed shoe we never use, and vote its abolition, the economy 

 of labour in making it notwithstanding. 



ON THE WEIGHT OF SHOES. 



Writers have laid down regulations for the weight of shoes 

 for horses of given classes; we can only, however, comply 

 with that custom to a limited extent. In all cases, the size 

 and weight must vary according to the form and action of 

 horses, and the size of their feet, even amongst those of 

 the same class. 



