PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 69 



Again, all unite in the belief that nothing more simple, in- 

 expensive and efficient than a well-devised iron or steel shoe 

 can at present be produced to meet the exigencies of the case, 

 nor can the safe and ready method of attaching it by nails be 

 displaced by any other means that we are acquainted with. 



Having to deal with the facts as we find them, therefore, let 

 us turn to a consideration of the best means which lie in our 

 power of reducing, as much as possible, the evils so frequently 

 attendant upon the practice of shoeing as commonly pursued. 



Past and Present. — Bad and indifl:erent shoeing are pro- 

 ductive of but one result — serious injury to the animals shod — and 

 rendering them more or less unfit for active service. It is the 

 exercise of a high&r knowledge and its scientific application 

 that constitutes the true " art, trade and mystery" of farriery, 

 as exemplified in the best practice of to-day; in which science, 

 as well as art and common sense, are operating to supplant the 

 irrational, time-honored customs (which were once a portion of 

 the blacksmith's creed), and are now gradually raising the science 

 of horshoeiniT above the baneful influences of ignorance and 

 traditional routine, to that position which its practical import- 

 ance as a great national economic question justly entitles it. 



When it is thus conceded that some of the operations and 

 practices of the art have been materially altered and improved 

 upon, it is none the less true that the ordinary system of horse- 

 shoeing, as it obtains in average hands, has not kept pace with 

 the advancement noted. In too many instances it is observable 

 that the art of the farrier is at variance with the workings of 

 nature, and what satisfies the one outrages the demands of the 

 otiier. The result is strikingly conspicuous in the number of 

 lame, maimed, diseased or disabled horses, involving a direct 

 loss of valuable property, as well as much needless suffering in 

 the noblest of our dumb animals. And to misapplied shoeing. 



