THE SHOEING OF HORSES. 49 



The practice of fixing tips upon the feet of horses at grass" is bad, 

 and the sooner it is abolished the better. By turning the horse 

 barefoot to grass, the frog and the sole are brought into full use. 

 It is true the wall may in certain instances be broken to some 

 extent, but this will prove in the end of little or no consequence ; 

 besides, with care and management, even that may be greatly 

 obviated, or altogether avoided. The feet of such horses should 

 be frequently inspected, and all broken and fractured portions of 

 horn carefully removed. Numbers who own horses would doubt- 

 less put these suggestions into practice, but their attention is never 

 called to such matters. Let us hope the remarks now offered may 

 not in future be lost sight of. 



It is too much the practice to regard all destructive influences 

 in operation upon the foot, as arising from causes involved in 

 mystery. Hence men are continually upon the hunt for a new 

 form of horse shoe, or for new modes of a remedial kind ; and 

 hence, again, to meet these supposed wants, we have numbers of 

 " patent" horse shoes and other inventions, the great bulk of 

 which are so worthless and absurd in principle, that it is mere 

 waste of time to bestow a second consideration upon them. Before 

 we commit ourselves so hurriedly to the mere "fads" of amateurs 

 or the worthless inventions of those who have no practical know- 

 ledge of the farrier's art, let us use a little more common sense in 

 availing ourselves of such resources as are in abundance around 

 us. Is every farrier educated to the knowledge we possess ? and, 

 Do our best farriers work, in all cases, to their full power ? We 

 think not. So that, until we have brought into full and efficient 

 play all the forces we possess, it is useless to repine, as all our 



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