36 HORSES AND ROADS. 



secretions of the bottom of the crust into a boiling 

 state, and boiling means simply their entire decom- 

 position ; so, therefore, he actually kills the founda- 

 tion on which a horse is built, and it is only the 

 dead part that he has to cut away again (as regards 

 the crust or wall) on the next occasion that he operates 

 upon him. This bm'ning-in business is, therefore, 

 another cause of seedy-toe, false quarter, and sand- 

 crack. 



The opinion of ISIr. Douglas is well worth re- 

 porting here. He says : ' The fitting of the shoe 

 can always be done better, in my opinion, when the 

 iron is cold, than when hot. Heating the shoe is 

 the quicker way, but it is also the most barbarous 

 one. The mischief done at times, by this custom, was 

 exemplified in the case of Mr. Bevan's trotting-horse 

 Hue and Cry, which lost both its fore-feet through 

 the shoes having been fitted red hot ; and many 

 animals, both before and since, have suffered like 

 misfortunes from the same cause.' 



In Spain it is the custom to shoe cold, and not 

 one ' herrador ' in a hundred has a forge or a pair of 

 bellows on his premises. They even manufacture the 

 shoes without the aid of fire ; but it is true that 

 Spanish iron, being primarily manufactured with wood 

 charcoal, is particularly pure, soft, and ductile. The 

 Spanish 'herrador' or shoeing-smith only — for he 

 does nothing else in the shape of iron forging — does 

 not use the drawing knife (although, of course, the 

 veterinary surgeon does), and he never touches or 

 pares anything but the wall, which he pares down 



