102 THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



out of 103 was lost. This great difference would have been 

 still greater if the hot method had been practised in the or- 

 dinary manner. But the school w^as then laboring under an 

 impression developed b}^ the Podometric Sj^stem, that there 

 was danger of burning the sole, and an order was given to 

 the farriers to apply the hot shoes ver}^ lightly, and to re- 

 move that part of the hoof which had been in contact with 

 the shoe. This was almost a return to the cold metliod of 

 fitting. 



Colonel Amber t, also of the Saumur School, observed that, 

 out of 600 horses, from 55 to 60 lost their shoes ever}^ month 

 during the emplo^^ment of cold fitting, or in other words, 

 the regiment lost a shoe every hour they marched, while 

 Avith the S3'stem of hot fittmg the regiment lost only one 

 shoe in eight days. 



After careful observation and man}^ experiments, I have 

 come to the conclusion that hot fitting is not attended with 

 an^^ danger when properl^^ practised, and that hot shoeing, 

 as practised at that time, allows the Avorkmen to make the 

 shoe to fit the foot, an advantage that the cold shoeing does 

 not possess. In fact, all the most distinguished veterinary 

 professors or practitioners who have studied the subject, 

 have unhesitatingly given the preference to hot fitting. — 

 By Frank I. Gilbert. 



Favors Hot Fitting for Oxen. 



A person Avho has practised cold fitting all his life, of 

 course thinks no other S3'stem is right, and is apt to regard 

 the advocates of hot fitting as being greatly in the dark. 

 He feels quite sure that the animals subjected to such bar- 

 barous and cruel treatment will be certainly ruined. 



Now, what is the object in fitting a shoe hot? I answer, 

 to get a perfect and solid bearing- which can be obtained 



