156 THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



and had to be booted anew often, for he literally wore his 

 boots out in a short time. All the smiths in town Avho be- 

 lieved they could stop him had tried and failed. 



A shoer from out of town having- heard of the horse 

 while on a visit, said he would like to shoe him, and was in- 

 vited by a local shoer to use his shop and tools for the pur- 

 pose. Turning" a pair of shoes, removing* the old ones, 

 paring' the feet, doing" all the work of setting" and finishing" 

 off the feet himself, in a self-reliant and handy way, in a 

 strang'e shop, showed the man to be a workman. 



The shoes were made with the web on the outside very 

 much heavier and wider than on the inside. They were an 

 exageration of the shape used by some of the best drivers 

 of trotters to make a horse travel wider both forw^ard and 

 behind. A long", hig-h side-calk was put on the inside web. 

 There were no heel calks or toes put on. It seemed, to 

 look at the awkward things, as though it would be a clear 

 case of cruelty to animals to make horses wear them. The 

 side-calk Avas more than an inch high. 



*^ Won't it break his legs, or lame him to cant the feet 

 over so much V I asked. The answer was : 



** If this horse is ever made to go without hitting, its got 

 to be done by busting his gait. I think I can bust his gait 

 with these shoes." 



When the job was done, the horse was driven half a doz- 

 en miles or more. The roads were muddy, so that had he 

 hit there would have been marks. Not a mark could be 

 seen. Said the driver, " I have driven him up and down 

 hill, and on level ground, from a walk to a 2:50 clip. It is 

 the most wonderful thing I ever kncAv ! If 3^ou had driven 

 him the distance of a block before he would have hit a doz- 

 en times." 



Said the shoer who had wrought the change, " I would 



