74 SHOEING. 



mud from drying on the paint, which can scarcely fail 

 to deteriorate it, and give it a premature appearance of 

 wear. 



SHOEING. 



Some horses are very averse to being shod, through 

 some fright the first time of shoeing, or bad manage- 

 ment. It is better to overcome such shyness or vice 

 by gentleness or stratagem than by force of any kind. 



Some few animals even require to be cast, or placed 

 under the influence of the painful twitch. Before re- 

 sorting to any force, however, the following means 

 should be tried in preference to others : — Let whoever 

 is in the habit of ridiuf^ or exercisino; the horse mount 

 him when regularly bridled and saddled, the girths be- 

 ing a little looser than if intended for work ; ride to the 

 side of the forge, and there let him (his rider still on his 

 back) be shod the first time ; on the second visit to the 

 forge, if it be spacious enough, he may be ridden into it 

 for the same purpose. 



In shoeing, the smith's rule ought to be to fit the 

 shoe to the foot, not the foot to the shoe, according to 

 the general practice of those gentry. 



In London and all large towns the best thing a gen- 

 tleman can do is to contract with a veterinary surgeon 

 for the shoeing as well as the doctoring of his horses. 



The night previous to a horse being shod or removed, 

 the groom should stop his feet, to soften them, and en- 

 able the farrier to use his drawing-knife properly, and 

 without injury to that instrument. 



In shoeing, any undue accumulation of sole may be 

 pared away; judgment must however be used in this 



