SPECIAL AND GENERAL SHOEING. 123 



classes in all sorts and conditions of life : from the sleek, well- 

 groomed, and handsomely appointed, light-stepping roadster of 

 the successful professional or business man, to the " general 

 utility" animals of the coach, omnibus, and livery lines, as well 

 as the workaday horses of the common carriers and the sedate 

 looking, steady going, well known family carriage horse. 



Thus classified, or grouped, there is enough diversity in 

 size, style, and general character of performance to apparently 

 tax the ingenuity of the shoeing smith; yet there is nothing 

 formidable in this array after all, and all may be treated with 

 great ease and simplicity, though with that regard and atten- 

 tion which each may seem to demand. The same process of 

 shoeing as appertains to my formula for the perfect foot, and 

 the same shoe as shown in that connection (Fig. 27) applies 

 here, and may be followed with general success throughout, as 

 this shoe will prove most serviceable for all horses going at a 

 "jog trot," especially for summer wear on the front feet. I 

 would not recommend the promiscuous use of calks on shoes, 

 for where such cramps seem of use to the support of a horse by 

 the impression they make in the surface, it will be seen from my 

 method of shoeing race horses, where the frog comes to the 

 ground, notwithstanding the course they run over is often slip- 

 pery and they are up to their speed, yet they seldom fall, and 

 this style of even, plain shoeing, would seem to be well calcu- 

 lated to answer for the same purposes generally. Still, when toe 

 and heel calks are required, it is well to state that the toe calks 

 should be of good length, set slightly back from the front rim 

 of the shoe, as this will assist the easy going over at that point 

 without deviation or hindrance to the action. 



The Draft Horse. — Dropping from the higher types to 

 the draft horses we still find that conditions of environment 

 have given to the different breeds of this class their own char- 

 acteristic ways of going. The true gait of the draft horse is 



