74 THE HORSE. 



the hunting; shoe should be as light as is consistent 

 with substance enough to bear the horse's weight ; 

 the web in general somewhat narrower than for the 

 road, but perhaps, of equal width for a stony country. 

 The length as usual. I prefer the seated shoe for 

 the field as less liable to be cast; and, with weak 

 heels, the soil being dry and hard (certainly not in a 

 a deep country), I would have it round or barred. I 

 have not seen, at least I do not recollect, the practice 

 of turning up, or ruffing the outside heel to prevent 

 slipping, to which Mr. Goodwin objects. Certainly 

 hunting shoes should be concave on the ground sur- 

 face. I cannot laud the prudence of him who rode 

 Lord Maynard's mare in the field (Goodwin, p. 219), 

 when she performed so completely the evolution of 

 overreaching, whence he must have known she went 

 " hammer and pinchers together," surely a most im- 

 proper and dangerous form for a hunter. Mr. Good- 

 win says, " if the inward edge of the hind shoes are 

 bevelled and rounded, this accident cannot take place." 

 Probably not ; but still the fore heels may be sorely 

 and repeatedly wounded, to the great danger of the 

 horse coming down. 



The racing plate need differ in nothing; from the 

 common shoe than in its lightness, which yet should 

 not be in excess, and it resembles the seated shoe in 

 respect of its flat surface next the crust. I have 

 been always of Mr. Goodwin's opinion of the inu- 

 tility, at least, of the practice of lining the plate, or 

 shoe with old hat or leather; and regret with him 

 that racehorses cannot be taken to the forge to be 

 plated. Surely the shoeing smith might be provided 



