THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 17 



inside and out. Of hoof ointments there are plenty. Vase- 

 line will answer first-rate. 



If a quick drive is to be made, whether of ten or twelve 

 miles within the hour, or of twenty or thirty miles at the 

 same rate, don't be in a hurr^^ at the start. Begin easily, 

 warm your horse up gradually, get the joints limbered up 

 and in good working order, and as the lungs and heart get 

 in proper action, with stomach and bowels relieved as they 

 will be by w^aiting" a little, 3^our horse can rattle along 

 easily at a rate which w^ould have made him puff and blow, 

 and scour, and lather if started out too fast at first, and 

 you "get there" with your horse in good shape. With 

 some drivers certain horses are said to be " poor feeders," 

 while with other drivers the same horses will do as much 

 work and never lose a feed. Don't start out too strong- : 

 always ease off a little toward the last end of a drive. 

 Slackening down to a jog or walk for the last mile of a drive 

 makes, sometimes, hours of difference in the time it takes 

 for the horse to be dry and comfortable, besides letting the 

 machinery, which has been w^orking at its utmost tension, 

 get back to something like its normal condition under easy 

 action, instead of coming* to a standstill from the high state 

 of strain. 



About Horseshoeing. 



It is probable that on no other subject pertaining to me- 

 chanical practice is there more diversity of opinion. If we 

 go to the authors of treatises on horseshoeing, w^e are told 

 that to keep the horse's foot in a perfect condition of healtli 

 it is simply necessar^^ to shoe according* to the rules laid 

 down by them ; but Avhen we turn from the opinions ex- 

 pressed and rules laid down by one writer, to find him con- 

 tradicted on ever^^ important point by other authorities, 

 what are we to do ? With one the allimportant thing is 



