BOURGELATS MAXIMS. 493 



many were so adjusted, and to about the same degree. Some 

 of Bourgelat's maxims on shoeing were very good, especially 

 the second, in which he particularly insists on abstaining 

 from opening up the heels. ' The second maxim in good 

 shoeing is never to open the horse s heels ; this is the 

 greatest abuse, and ruins the majority of feet.' ' Opening 

 the heels ' is when the farrier, in paring the foot, cuts the 

 heel close to the frog, carrying the opening to within a 

 finger's breadth of the coronet, so as to separate the 

 quarters from the heel, and by this means the foot is 

 weakened, and made to contract. That which is called 

 opening a heel is in reality contracting it, for the round- 

 ness or circumference of the hoof being cut in this 

 ' opening,' there is nothing left to sustain the heels ; there- 

 fore it inevitably happens, if there is any weakness in the 

 foot, that it contracts. If the farriers were careful of their 

 reputation and mindful of their duty, they would make 

 this maxim one of the principal points in their statutes.' 



Any one who has had much to do with horses, or visited 

 a shoeing forge, will know that it is customary to adjust or 

 try on the new shoe while it is in a hot state, so as to obtain 

 for it a more solid and secure bearing on the hoof, and to 

 fit it better. Before the 1 8th century, it is probable that 

 the hoof-armature was usually adjusted in a cold state, a 

 practice which has many disadvantages. Caesar Fiaschi 

 seems to corroborate this, when he says of the shoeing of 

 his day : ' Je ne vois d' autre remede, eu egard au peu de 

 solidite de cette ferrure, que de savoir soi-meme brocher 

 les clous ou de se faire suivre par un marechal.' He 

 nevertheless speaks of fitting the shoe while it was hot. 

 At any rate, it is not until 1736 that we find the first men- 



