218 Simple Rules for Shoeing, and 



shoe always as long as it is secure and serviceable, 

 so as to avoid breaking the foot by too frequent 

 removes. Use daily dressings of hoof ointment, 

 inside and out, after the foot is cleaned, by which 

 means many animals will be enabled to perform a 

 great amount of work with ease and cheerfulness. 



Pricks and binds are the natural consequences 

 of the system of shoeing with nails. Some per- 

 sons ignorantly suppose they can only occur from 

 carelessness. They must, however, be informed 

 that workmen of the best class, well known for 

 their superior skill and care, are liable to cause 

 lameness by a prick or bind with the nail in 

 shoeing. There are many causes for it, most of 

 which are beyond his control. Great mischief 

 ensues frequently after such an occurrence, and 

 the difficulty commences in attaching the blame 

 to the proper person. In ninety-nine cases out 

 of a hundred such ought not to occur, yet it 

 does, and how ? As soon as a horse is lame he 

 is usually walked off to the smith, who receives 

 the information that he has pricked the horse. 

 Knowing the estimate placed by owners generally 

 upon such a case, the smith naturally endeavours 

 to prove the contrary, and in many cases suc- 

 ceeds by ignorance of the proper symptoms and 

 mode of manipulation, in having the horse sent 

 home with the qualifying announcement, that 

 the lameness is in the shoulder or other place, 

 " but not in the foot" 



At this stage, simple matters would set the 



