THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 227 



men or pet theory. I have no hobby, and am a mem- 

 ber of no clique. I have no "patent shoe" to adver- 

 tise, nor wealthy patron to flatter or fool. Nor have I 

 any reputation to risk, or "new principles" to bring 

 forward. My only ambition is to write in a sensible 

 way what I have learned by reading and observation 

 touching the horse's feet, and the treatment they should 

 receive in shoeing. Touching the literature of the sub- 

 ject, I yield to no one as a student. The leisure of 

 years has been devoted to its perusal. I believe that 

 my reading, from the oldest Italian treatise to the "last 

 book out," has been as wide and thorough as any per- 

 son's to-day living. Nor have I read with prejudice, or 

 to discover some principle which I might put in metallic 

 form, patent, and send out to the world heralded as 

 "the great combination-shoe." I have read simply 

 that I might know what other men had thought, and, 

 if possible, discover the source of those atrocious errors 

 in modern farriery which are a disgrace to our veteri- 

 nary service, and a source of torture to the horse. I do 

 not mention this in vanity, — although it might be so 

 construed by those who cannot understand frankness, nor 

 appreciate the candor of honesty, — but to the end that 

 those who peruse these pages — the average farmer and 

 farmer's boy — may feel that they are reading the opin- 

 ions of a man who has gone faithfully and patiently to 

 the bottom of the subject, so far, at least, as mastering its 

 literature goes, and is teaching them with a knowledge 

 of all the facts in the case in his mind. This, also, should 



