PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION. 



Since the publication of the third edition of my treatise on 

 Scientific Horseshoeing, so many additional cases have come to 

 mv attention of the results of neglect of the horse's foot, that I 

 have concluded to embody them, with copious illustration, in a 

 complete final work to embrace all the important matter con- 

 tained in the first, second and third editions, as well as the ad- 

 ditional contents comprised in the fourth edition. 



After a practical experience of over a half century at the 

 forge and anvil, I trust that I have herein demonstrated my 

 theory, by the most indubitable proofs, that the cause of most 

 of the foot and leg diseases of the horse is to be attributed ta 

 the failure to properly balance the feet in shoeing. And I am 

 upheld in my opinion by the best and most experienced trainers 

 and horseshoers in the country. Readers of this, the fourth 

 edition of Scientific Horseshoeing, therefore, will understand 

 my theory ; upon this I believe that the horseshoeing craft can 

 rely faithfully, and I thus confidently proclaim it, so that the- 

 inquiring reader, who necessarily must be either a practical 

 horseshoer, trainer, owner, or interested in the horse, may un- 

 derstand as he reads the reasons for the remedies and treatment* 

 for the disorders to the foot and leg herein described. 



Some diseases are recognizable at once and can be assigned 

 to known causes ; others appear only after a shorter or longer 

 course of treatment and experiment, while many do not respond 

 to the most exhaustive diagnosis. In the present instance I 

 believe a very comprehensive field has been covered, and that a 

 study of this book and the cases cited will enable the farrier to 

 prescribe the proper treatment from his own diagnosis of cases. 



(xiii) 



