48 NOTES FOR HUNTING-MEN 



The village blacksmith was a worthy and honest 

 man, but had never shod * nag ' horses in his life, 

 nothing but cart-horses of neighbouring farmers. 

 He was modestly rather reluctant to try his hand 

 on hunters, but I determined to endeavour to teach 

 him, especially as he was not conceited, and pro- 

 fessed his willingness to do what he was told. 

 Soldiering had taught me the theory of shoeing, and 

 a little of its practice ; whilst a good model of a 

 horse's foot, unrasped and with a shoe properly 

 fitted, was a great assistance to my blacksmith 

 friend. Altogether our joint experiments turned out 

 very well. 



I give this somewhat long and personal story 

 because I believe it would often pay to have a good 

 local shoeing-smith taught how to shoe hunters, 

 rather than employ a man from a distance. The great 

 thing is to have him on the spot. There is no such 

 great mystery in shoeing a horse. If the man will 

 only let the foot alone as much as possible, never, 

 under any circumstances, rasp the outer crust, and 

 take the trouble to fit the shoe to the foot instead 

 of the foot to the shoe, he cannot go far wrong. 



Over-reaches are caused by the under inner edge 



of the hind shoe striking the fore leg, usually in 



jumping. They occur most frequently in 



Over-reaches . . . „ , . 



heavy ground. It is obvious that if this 

 edge of the shoe is rounded off no serious accident can 



