SPECIAL AND GENERAL SHOEING. 125 



assuredly give them common-sense care, and this will often spare 

 unnecessary punishment to, or save the life of, a useful and val- 

 uable animal. 



" Experience keeps a dear school," but a wise man will 

 learn to profit by the mistakes of others, and this particular ad- 

 vantage everyone may reap from the foregoing references to the 

 present subject of inquiry, namely, to keep your horses' feet 

 strong as nature made them, level and balance them as I have 

 sufiiciently pointed out and amply explained under the head of 

 " Practical Horseshoing." Pare away as little of the sole, frog, 

 and bars, as possible, to accomplish this end in the proper way, 

 then adjust as plain and light a shoe as accurately to the hoof 

 as may be done, and, lastly, fasten it on with no larger nor more 

 nails than are judged sufiicient to make it secure in position for 

 a reasonable length of time ; and I will guarantee on the strength 

 of long years of experience and close observation, that the fruit- 

 ful source from which arise the many dangerous compressions, 

 inflammations, etc., already mentioned, will be obviated, and 

 you will have learned, without the aid of other tutor, the great 

 scientific lesson of rational horseshoeins^. 



But though this method may not be so generally adopted 

 by all in its utmost extent, for the reasons previously announced,, 

 that from the difterent formation of horses' hoofs, which in some 

 will always demand a particular method of shoeing, yet it un- 

 doubtedly applies to the majority of horses generally met with^ 

 and the exceptions remain to be further noted. 



The shoes for draft horses should be only moderately heavy,, 

 not too thick, and as narrow in their covering as the case admits, 

 so as not to endanger the elasticity of the sole. 



Figs. 32 and 33 indicate the patterns usually adopted for 

 front and hind feet respectively, showing four nails on each 

 side exactly opposite one another, to do the best service with the 

 least injury. Toe and heel calks are in general vogue for shoes 

 of this kind, and they should always be of equal height and low 



