PREFACE. 



The friendly reception accorded to previous efforts encouraged 

 the hope that a vohime dealing with that less studied though 

 scarcely less useful subject, Horse-shoeing, might fiud similar 

 acceptance. To provide material, all the best known German, 

 French, and Italian treatises have been ransacked, the leading 

 English works referred to, and the information thus gained 

 collated. Without any intention of disparaging the labors of 

 other authors, the writer feels bound to confess that he has 

 found no work of more practical and scientific value than 

 Leisering-Hartmann's masterly Handbook, " Der Fuss des 

 Pferdes;" which, though in a much modified form, and with 

 the addition of a. large amount of new matter, has been adopted 

 as ther model and substantial basis for the present volume. 

 Other sources of information are indicated in the Bibliography 

 hereto attached. 



The first nineteen pages, on the history of Horse-shoeing, 

 have been translated, with little alteration, from Leisering- 

 Hartmann. In the section devoted to the Anatomy of the 

 Foot, Professor Mettam has kindly contributed pages 61 to 65, 

 and fig. 66 on page 106. The part dealing with practical 

 Horse-shoeing has been almost entirely re-written, while many 

 additions drawn from the write'r's own experience or from 

 Continental literature have been made in order to adapt the 

 book to the requirements of English readers. 



To Mr. Albert Wheatley is due one of the chief features of 

 the book, viz., the large-sized blocks of horse-shoes printed on 

 separate sheets, and the descriptions accompanying them. 



