33 



asserting at the same time, that he had recommended and 

 employed tliat plan very extensively with most beneficial 

 results. It was accordingly tried ; and he very soon had 

 the gratification of feeling his horse move under him with 

 a firm and confident step, most unlike that, to which he had 

 lately been accustomed. He told me, that further experience 

 had only confirmed his fii'st impression ; and that he should 

 continue to shoe upon the same system with the same 

 number of nads ; that the first pair of shoes set at rest all 

 his doubts and fears about the security of the plan, for he 

 had occasion to ride his horse in the new shoes thirty miles 

 a day for the first six days in succession ; and that they 

 were as firmly attached to the feet at tlie end of the 

 one hundred and eighty miles, as they were at the 

 commencement of the journey ; and that they continued firm, 

 untU the horse was re-shod, which did not happen for five 

 weeks. He also told me, that he has found five nails 

 retain a shoe with leather between it and the foot for an 

 equally long period. Since that time I have had ample 

 opportunity of ascertaining, that a shoe with leather under 

 it can be retained by few nails ; for every one of my horses 

 have been shod in leather for many years past, and have 

 never had more than three nads in each fore shoe. 



One horse in particular was as unfavourable a subject for 

 the experiment, as could have been selected, being twenty 

 years old, with large, flat, brittle feet, and high action ; he 

 was moreover of a nervous temperament, and occasionally 

 knocked his feet about very much ; I nevertheless continued 

 to shoe him in leather, and the result showed the plan 



