Free Lance on Shoeing. i^y 



on each horse, over roads bad enough for any- 

 thing ; yet they have never been shod, and con- 

 sequently they are as Nature formed them, and 

 on the other hand they do not travel fast, and not 

 compelled to go as men may guide them, but are 

 perfectly at liberty to pick their way, and, sensi- 

 ble beasts that they are, will not put their feet 

 upon anything likely to hurt them. Although 

 horses may perform long journeys without shoes 

 in America, South Eussia, and in Asia Minor, 

 yet the author does not believe in unshod horses 

 for general use in England ; not that our roads 

 are worse, but we drive them much faster, conse- 

 quently the horse has not a chance of picking his 

 way, and therefore requires some protection to 

 the crust of the foot. The tip being by far the 

 best and safest of all the shoes that are made, 

 Mr. Douglas found by careful experiment that 

 light shoes will wear longer than heavy shoes. 

 The contract farrier, by putting on heavy shoes, 

 is wrong again, and, as I have said before, he 

 begins his economy from the wrong end. I think 

 I have said enough about the faults of shoeing, 

 yet when I view the horse's foot, with its beautiful 

 structure and combinations, and see how it is cut, 

 rasped, pegged to pieces with many and large 

 nails, the heels cut open, sole and frog cut away, 

 and last, but not least, heavy cumbersome lumps 

 of iron put on for shoes, I cannot but come to 

 the conclusion that although horses have been 

 shod in England since the days of William the 

 Conqueror, yet upon the whole our shoeing- 

 smiths have not advanced in the art of shoeing, 



