SHOEING. 125 



made by striking the toe or quarter of the hind shoe against the metal 

 nailed to the forefoot. This sound is not generally considered pleasant 

 by those who hear it ; because, besides being of a monotonous character, 

 it announces something to be the matter — 

 either that the horse is not exactly in proper 

 working condition, or that the journey has 

 been a trifle too long for the strength of the 

 animal, while the repeated blows endanger 

 the retention of a fore shoe. 



The smith generally is consulted to cure 

 this defect. He, however, who regards the 

 cause, will perceive that the eradication of 

 the evil more concerns the stable than the 

 forge. The man of the anvil, nevertheless, 

 will put on a novel kind of shoe which, with TioNT^^LrTVo'^cu™; 

 all the confidence of ignorance, he shall assert ^'"' °^ rendering clicking an 



~ ' IMPOSSIBILITY. 



must stay the annoyance. The remedy totally 



fails, and the horse is led to another forge. The new blacksmith picks 

 up the foot, and, of course, is cunning enough to profit by what he there 

 perceives. A different shoe is tried and pronounced an absolute remedy. 

 Still, this disappoints ; the quadruped seeks some other shoemaker. The 

 next bit of iron leads to no new result. The clicking and the cutting 

 only get worse during these numerous trials ; till the proprietor becomes 

 alarmed, and the horse is thrown up to undergo regular curative treat- 

 ment. 



The rest thus obtained often effects that which no change of shoe 

 could accomplish. The smiths, however, are only to be blamed for pre- 

 tending to perform impossibilities. The best veterinary surgeons in the 

 kingdom having no better appliances, could have labored to no better 

 result; the fact being that the kind of shoe which shall answer in all 

 such cases, does not and cannot exist. That article has the best chance 

 which is adopted when the owner deems it necessary to lighten the work 

 of his exhausted servant. Thus, it is a matter of uncertainty which shoe 

 will succeed. The first smith may, or perhaps the last will, prove the 

 very clever tradesman in his employers' estimation. 



The next engraving is a type of the shoe commonly employed for the 

 alleviation of this unpleasantness. The number of altered shapes and 

 adapted peculiarities is infinite ; but one pervading model is readily de- 

 tected through all such modifications. There are, however, several shoes 

 claimed as inventions by different smiths, and each is warranted to cure 

 the most aggravated case of cutting or of clicking on the first applica- 

 tion. The author has known many 0£ these to fail ; while the ordinary 



