124 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



Now we come to the much- vexed question of what 

 is the best system of shoeing our horses. The writer 

 does not advocate one system more than another, but 

 will try and point out the faults in most of them, and, 

 contrary to most writers, will begin with the cart horse 

 first, because he is the worst shod, unless it is indeed the 

 blacksmith's own horse. What class of shoe is best 

 adapted for the ordinary use of the farm horse ? Most 

 smiths and farmers like putting on heavy wide-web 

 shoes — the farmer, from the belief that the heavy shoe 

 has most wear ; and the smith, who generally contracts 

 for farm horses by the year, thinks that the more iron 

 he puts on the horse, the less times he will have to shoe 

 hirn during the year. This is a system void of economy, 

 both to the shoeing-smith and farmer, as proof is not 

 wanting that tlie narrow- web light shoe will wear longer 

 and the horse will go easier than with broad heavy shoes. 

 Mr. Douglas some years ago tried the experiment of 

 shoeing the heavy van horses of one of the London 

 railway companies with light narrow shoes. He took 

 off one horse a set of shoes that after they were 

 worn out weighed 71b. 14oz , and put a set o± 

 new narrow-web shoes on the same horse which only 

 weighed 71b. 4oz., or lOozs. less than the old worn-out 

 shoes. The horse was put to the same work, with a 

 result that the new narrow-web shoes wore four 

 weeks and two days, and the broad heavy shoes only 

 wore three weeks and four days. Mr. Douglas did not 

 know what was the weight of the old shoes when put 

 upon the horse, but it is only reasonable to think they 

 would weigh 16 lb. the set, as thev would no doubt be 



