200 HORSE-SHOEING. 



led to perceive that a vast majority of the horses so treated soon 

 became deformed and lame in their feet; while some of the dis- 

 eases occurring higher up in the limbs were likewise due to this 

 cause. 



The rational method here inculcated was then adopted,, and 

 now for many years the only preparation the foot has received 

 for the shoe has been levelling the wall, in conformity with the 

 direction of the limb and foot, and removing as much of its margin 

 as will restore it to its natural length, leaving the sole, frog, 

 bars, and heels in all their integrity. Such has been the treat- 

 ment of the hoofs of the horses under my care in various parts of 

 the world, and in far more trying circumstances at times, so far 

 as shoeing is concerned, than are likely to occur in the regula r 

 work of towns, and so strong were the hoofs, as a rule, such solid 

 blocks of horn did they appear, that when a shoe was, by some 

 rare chance, lost on a journey, there was no dan^or whatever to 

 be apprehended from marching the horse ten, twenty, or even 

 thirty miles, without it. Horses have never been pricked in 

 nailing, and foot diseases, it may be said, have been all but un- 

 known. The roughest roads and the sharpest stones can be 

 traveled over with impunity. Nearly every hoof might be taken 

 as a model, and be pronounced as perfect as before the animal 

 was shod, many years previously. 



This abstinence from paring and rasping, it will be seen, very 

 naturally lessens the time and labor required in the ordinary 

 method ; indeed, nothing can be simpler than the conservative 

 principle of shoeing, and this simplicity can be effectively carried 

 into practice with one-half the instruction and toil required for 

 the popular mode. 



Other methods of shoeing have been devised from time to time, 

 and may be briefly referred to here. 



To diminish the weight and permit a portion of the posterior part 



