82 THE HORSE. 



damaged; too much strain lies upon the nails and 

 clinches, and the horse's tread is not so level and 

 firm upon the ground. In the worst forms of shoes, 

 with wide webs, the ground surface is quite convex, 

 instead of the opposite, a form injurious to the hoof, 

 extremely unsafe, and detracting much from the 

 powers of the draught horse, particularly upon pave- 

 ment. The heels, when contracted, are yet ' opened' 

 with a dealing view, to make some show of an open 

 heel, caveat emptor. A remedy in these cases, can 

 only come from proprietors, who must, to that end, 

 look both to their own interest and to that of their 

 smith, never denying him an extra price for extra 

 good shoeing. Such was my invariable maxim, 

 when I kept horses. 



SECTION XV. 



I have already remarked on the early attention and 

 proficiency in the farriery art of the Italian and 

 French schools, whence we of this country have de- 

 rived the principles, and generally the practice, of 

 nearly all we know in its relation. As an example, I 

 present the reader with a quotation from a very scarce 

 black letter book, that of Blundeville, whose last 

 edition was published in 1580, dedicated to Dudley, 

 the famous Earl of Leicester. Blundeville, although 

 not so learned, rhetorical, and metaphysical, as cer- 

 tain of his contemporaries and successors of the next 

 reign, was a writer of good sound common sense and 

 humanity, who made the best use of such lights as 

 his times afforded ; attend to his general principles 

 of shoeing : 



