Mr. Douglas on Shoeing. 151 



many cart horses shod for farm purposes, and 

 found that if a horse with a foot 6i in. across 

 was shod with shoes weighing 51b. the set of 

 four, they would last as long as any shoe ought 

 to be kept on, and in many instances where the 

 horses have been working on the land they would 

 be good enough to remove after a month's work. 

 This is a proof that heavy shoes are more expen- 

 sive than the narrow-web, light shoe, and it is 

 false economy to load horses' feet with iron. 

 The carriage horse requires for its work a dif- 

 ferent kind of shoe, yet whether the horse is shod 

 for cart, carriage, or hacking, the one principle 

 should rule, all, viz. lightness of shoe, with true, 

 even bearing upon the wall of the foot ; as few 

 nails as possible should be used, and each shoe 

 made to fit the foot, not the foot to fit the shoe. 

 Upwards of forty kinds of shoes have been made 

 from time to time, each possessing some real or 

 imaginary advantage, many of them being good, 

 and one in particular, called the '^ Goodenough," 

 which is good enough to lame half the horses 

 with its ponderous weight and softness of metal. 

 Another shoe has been before the public from 

 time to time during the last twenty years, named 

 the "Charlier," after Mons. Charlier, the in- 

 ventor of that system of shoeing. It has many 

 advantages over the old-fashioned shoe, but it 

 again has its drawbacks ; it is a shoe that cannot 

 be adapted to every class of foot, and above all 

 other class of shoe requires great skill, care, and 

 patience to fit and put on with success. No 

 smith, however skilful he may be at the forge, 



