444 PREPARING THE HOOF. 



" ' I employ none but union men, and guarantee work the best and 

 material used the best in the market. By sending your horses to me you 

 will save in commissions, now generally paid to coachmen and grooms, 

 about $72 per year on the shoeing of each pair of horses.' 



" We are told that when coachmen were informed of the contents of 

 this circular, threats were made to do the farrier personal injury, and he was 

 compelled to take steps to protect himself from assault. The coachmen 

 who were refused gratuities nearly destroyed the business of the farrier by 

 taking the horses of their masters to other establishments, but now the shop 

 of the plucky farrier is overrun with business, because scores of gentlemen, 

 as soon as they had knowledge of the facts, refused to be bled any longer 

 by their servants. The coachman is an important factor in every well 

 regulated domestic establishment, and he should make it his first duty to 

 protect the interests of the man who gives him congenial employment. 

 When he imposes on good nature by levying tribute in all directions, which 

 tribute comes from the pocket of the man who pays him his wages, he 

 is doing everything in his power to restrict the use of horses. A never-end- 

 ing train of petty annoyances, in addition to the expense, is the cause of 

 many men giving up their stables." 



REMOVAL OF OLD SHOES. 



"The clenches should be cut carefully without injury to the crust, and 

 then each nail should be drawn separately. Much damage is often done 

 to the crust by neglect of these simple precautions. It takes very little 

 time to remove an old shoe properly, and there is really no excuse for the 

 hurried and violent manner in which this operation is too often per- 

 formed." Sir F. Fitzwygram, " Horses and Stables" p. 435. 



PREPARING THE HOOF. 



" To remove the excessive growth of the wall is an absolute necessity ; 

 but to denude the sole of its horn is wanton injury to the foot and cruelty 

 to the animal. 



" The longer the frog is left untouched by the knife, and allowed to 

 meet the ground, the more developed it becomes, its horn grows so dense 

 and resisting, yet without losing its special properties, that it braves the 

 crushing of the roughest roads without suffering in the slightest degree ; it 



