124 HORSE-SHOEING-. 



yielding the benefits its scientific and reasonable application should 

 afford. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to assert that the 

 predominating principles and practice of this art has been eminently 

 destructive to horses and a source of great loss to their owners. 



These principles were founded on a misconception of the functions 

 of the foot and of the part assumed by the hoof in locomotion, and 

 their speedy popularization was due to the fact that they were 

 congenial to the whims of fashion and were deemed essential to the 

 improvement of nature, commending themselves to unreasoning and 

 unreasonable minds like the fashions of cropping horses' and dogs' 

 ears, cutting, nicking and docking tails, and other cruel fancies of 

 depraved tastes. 



The amount of injury inflicted by an unscientific method of 

 shoeing may be very much greater than a cursory inquiry would 

 lead one to believe. To those experienced among horses, and who 

 have directed their attention closely to the subject, the proportion 

 of animals whose utility is directly or indirectly impaired by im- 

 proper treatment of their feet must appear excessive, when compared 

 with the other causes of inefficiency. Indeed, maladies of the feet 

 and limbs, due, more or less, to faulty shoeing, form a very large 

 percentage of the cases usually met with in veterinary practice. 



An act, therefore, which has so much influence for good or evil, 

 so far as the usefulness and comfort of the horse are concerned, 

 surely deserves the serious study of all those who are interested in 

 that animal. A good system, founded on the teachings of anatomy 

 and physiology, and perfected by daily experience, must prove of 

 immense benefit to horse and owner ; while a bad system, conducted 

 in ignorance or carelessness, cannot but bring about pain and speedy 

 uselessness to the animal and loss to the proprietor. 



