Il6 THE HORSE: ITS TAMING, 



country, I would compel all shoeing smiths to pass a 

 suitable examination before being permitted to under- 

 take the shoeing of horses. 



Preparation of the horse's foot for Shoeing. — I shall 

 give my experience and opinion on this subject 

 unbiassed by anything that has been previously 

 written. 



I strongly condemn the use of the knife on the sole 

 or frog of a healthy foot for the following reasons. It 

 is necessary that the sole of the foot should be strong 

 enough to prevent any loose stone from bruising it 

 and causing lameness. Then why weaken it by paring 

 it away till so thin that the smith can easily bend it 

 in with a slight pressure from his thumb ? and some, 

 w^hen they can do this without having actually fetched 

 blood, congratulate themselves upon their skill and 

 cleverness. As an instance of the result of this extreme 

 paring — I was engaged in Yorkshire at the time, and 

 was driving a fine chestnut horse, with grand action 

 and style of going (I afterwards sold him for ^^85). I 

 would never permit the knife on the soles or frogs of 

 his feet, so of course they looked rough. My groom 

 neglected to tell the smith this. I had to drive over 

 the moors to St. John's Chapel that day, and all the 

 stones he came to the horse would creep over like a 

 cat on hot bricks, and before long he went quite lame 

 and dared scarcely lift his fore feet off the ground. I 

 got out and examined his feet. The soles had been 



