2 . THE SHOEING OF HORSES. 



The right application of the shoe to the foot of the horse is 

 confessedly a matter of incalculable importance. The importance 

 of the question is fully understood by the author, and it is to make 

 the best known principles connected with the practice of the art 

 plain and simple to all interested in the subject, that the present 

 treatise is written. The success of the farrier, as a workman, 

 may be said to depend upon the strict observance of a few 

 common-sense principles or rules, the value of which may be 

 made clear to one possessing an ordinary knowledge of the 

 subject, but to carry out these rules the practical workman only 

 has the ability. A clear understanding of such rules, however, 

 will furnish the amateur with grounds whereby he may judge of 

 the skill of the workman, and of the principles upon which the 

 science of his art may be said to depend. 



The practice of the art of horse-shoeing naturally divides 

 itself into three stages : 



I St. The preparation of the foot for the shoe. 

 2nd. The preparation of the shoe. And, 

 3rd. The securing of the shoe to the foot. 



We shall first describe the matters necessary to observe in 

 the preparation of the foot. In stating what is the necessary duty 

 of the farrier when preparing the foot for the shoe, perhaps the 

 best plan to pursue would be to state in emphatic terms what 

 should not be done. So much injury accrues to the horse from 

 undue cutting, paring, and rasping the feet, that one is strongly 



