152 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



can succeed with the '^Charlier" shoe unless he 

 has a knowledge of the fundamental principles 

 of the structure of the horse's foot. The foot 

 itself requires much time before it becomes again 

 naturalised after it has been under a course of 

 barbarous shoeing with the cutting, paring, and 

 rasping, so often practised in the shoeing- shop ; 

 and before the horse can be safely shod with the 

 '^ Charlier '' the feet must be allowed time to 

 grow, and the sole and frog must on no account 

 be touched with the knife, the principle of the 

 *' Charlier " shoe being to insert a narrow rim of 

 iron round the wall of the foot to prevent its 

 breaking away, and leave all the remainder of 

 the foot as God formed it. If the unshod colt 

 is shod in this way from the first it can do any 

 kind of work over the roughest roads with ease 

 and safety, and the writer is of opinion that that 

 is the right time to begin with the ^'Charlier" 

 shoe. As it is with the faults of shoes and shoe- 

 ing; I am dealing, I may here state that the two 

 objections I have found to the " Charlier" shoes 

 is the difficulty of getting them shod properly, 

 and the fact that they require a long time before 

 the horse's feet become naturalised. Another 

 fault I have found in hunting with them is that 

 the horse cannot grip a bank. A gentleman 

 lately told me that in galloping over the ridge 

 and furrow of Leicestershire he found his horse 

 slip with both Charlier and Tips. The Toe Tip 

 in many respects is like the '^ Charlier " shoe, 

 and is a plate of iron about five inches long and 

 three-quarters of an inch wide, and has generally 



