THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 107 



Against Hot Fitting. 



Hot fitting- is a barbarous practice ; it draws the oil and 

 moisture from the foot and leaves it crisp and brittle. I 

 have seen smiths hold a red-hot shoe on a foot until it has 

 been fried like a steak. 



Whv is this done ? 



Because they are too lazy to use the knife and rasp. A 

 smith is justified in heating a shoe hot enough to make an 

 impression on the foot, but ho hotter, and a smith who can- 

 not fit a shoe in this Avay oug'ht to leave the business. I do 

 not think that any rules from books can be of much use to 

 shoers, because a st^^le of shoeing that will answer well for 

 one horse may not do at all for the next. I think horse- 

 shoeing" requires more study than any other part of the 

 smith's trade. — By U. B. 



Cold Fitting Best. 



I notice that a few smiths are not yet alive to the absurd- 

 ity of hot fitting-. J reg*ard the practice as unworthy of 

 civilized men. M}^ way is to keep on hand shoes of every 

 shape and size likely to be called for, and b\' doing* this I 

 avoid the necessity for heating* while shoeing-. Keep a sharp 

 butteris for trimming- feet, and g-et a nice fit without burn- 

 ing*. 



Time and coal are lost in reheating-, and, moreover, the 

 shoe must be made quite hot, so that it may burn the out- 

 side quickly without heating* the foot more than is necessar3\ 

 But when the shoe has cooled it will not fit the impression 

 in the hoof, because the iron has, of course, shrunk. So 

 that, after all, burning* will not make a shoe level. I can 

 put a shoe on by the time a man who burns is ready to drive 

 the first nail. 



Perhaps some men are fond of burning- because they have 



