12G SHOEING. 



shoe often answers admirably, so the horse be "up" to his work, and not 



pushed too far or too hard. 



The fact being, that flesh and blood, if overtasked, will flag, and no 



mechanical contrivance can anticipate the natural consequences of such 

 exhaustion. Clicking and cutting are not local 

 ailments; therefore, though they may be miti- 

 gated, they cannot be eradicated by any local 

 application. They doubtless are both produced 

 by the irregular movement of the feet ; but the 

 motion of the extremities is regulated by the 

 condition of the body. If the reader is ever on 

 a journey, and the horse he is guiding chances 

 to chck, the bearing-rein should be let down — 

 if the driver sit behind harness disgraced by 

 BHOE,MEANT^To^PREVENT ^^^^ ^^ instrumcnt of folly. Should that not 



succeed, accept the warning: pull up at the 

 next tavern, and have the quadruped taken from the shafts, rubbed down 

 and rested. 



After a couple of hours spent by the traveler in the coffee-room, the 

 journey may be resumed, though, of course, a longer stay will rather 

 benefit than injure the steed; yet, in either case, the subsequent pace 

 should be a little slackened; and if, on reaching home, the work is 

 slightly lightened, the noise may never after startle the "ear of pro- 

 priety. " 



These remedies should always anticipate the setting in of winter ; be- 

 cause wet roads necessitate heavier shoes, by which a severer blow can 

 be inflicted. Nevertheless, the majority of horse owners are extremely 

 careless about the necessities of the seasons. The winters, in this 

 climate, are more generally characterized by their severity than remarka- 

 ble for their mildness; yet the frost appears always to take horse pro- 

 prietors by surprise. Gentlemen, to be sure, during this season allow 

 their dumb servants to remain within the stable ; but quadrupeds which 

 have to work for their own and their masters' sustenance, creatures which 

 have to labor long and to labor hard, slaves which toil before the sun has 

 risen and never cease till darkness has long set in, are never prepared for 

 the season which in England seems a certainty. 



A horse shoe is, however, not a perishable commodity, nor does its 

 store necessitate any sacrifice. Supposing it were forged in the summer, 

 and because of death or change, it should not suit in the winter, the 

 smith, at such a period, would gladly accept its return. Many forges are 

 comparatively idle during the warmer months, and any amount of winter 

 shoes would be most thankfully msuiufactured. Then no one will employ 



