10 PEACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



From the earliest ages, the horse's foot and its envel- 

 op, the hoof, have been looked upon by horsemen as the 

 principal region of the animal's body to which care and 

 attention should be directed ; as, when these become in- 

 jured or diseased — no matter how perfect and sound the 

 other parts may be — the quadruped's services are dimin- 

 ished or altogether lost. 



Consequently, the preservation of these in an efficient 

 and healthy state has ever been the aim of those who 

 valued the horse for the immense advantages his services 

 were capable of conferring on mankind; and, in later 

 years, those who have been moved by the sacred impulse 

 of humanity toward the lower creatures have not forgot- 

 ten how much the noble animal may suffer from unskilful 

 management of its feet, through the neglect or ignorance 

 of those who have the special care of these organs. 



At a very early period in the domestication of the 

 horse, and particularly in Western regions, it must have 

 been soon discovered that at certain seasons, on particu- 

 lar soils, and especially when called upon to perform any 

 great amount of travelling and load-carrying, the horn 

 composing the hoof underwent an amount of wear greater 

 than Nature could compensate for, and that the living 

 sensitive structures within, becoming exposed and irrita- 

 ted by contact with the ground, gave rise to pain, lame- 

 ness, and inability to work. 



To guard against this serious result, the ingenuity of 

 man must have been severely tested in devising a suitable 

 and durable protection for the ground-surface of the hoof ; 

 and, among the many contrivances proposed, the most 

 notable, and by far the most valuable, has been the de- 

 vice of nailing a plate of metal to the outer margin or 

 wall of the hoof. 



The antiquity of this invention' is very great ; and it is 

 probable that for many centuries the shoe was considered 



