42 



Although I do not mean to assert, that shoeing at the 

 forge will of itself insure good fitting, I do assert, that it 

 is attended with this great advantage, that, if the smith be 

 inclined to do it well, it supplies liim with the means of 

 indidghig his inclination ; whereas in the stable no quantity 

 of zeal will enable him to do more, than make tlie best 

 of a bad matter. 



The only reason, I have ever heaixl in defence of tliis 

 practice, is the alleged liability of horses to take cold from 

 exposure to the drafts m a smith's forge. I can only say 

 in answer, that it has never happened to my own ; and I 

 believe, that a little care, and some extra clotliing would 

 insure the same exemption for others. 



Although it formed no part of my original intention to 

 treat of shoeing hunters, or plating I'ace horses, so many 

 facts bearing upon the former have come to my knowledge 

 since the first publication of my book, that I have been 

 induced to enter somewhat at large into the subject in the 

 Appendix ; where, I trust, I shall have produced sufficient 

 evidence to jsrove, that the mode of shoeing, I have been 

 advocating, is to the full as efiicient for hunters in the 

 field, as it is for hacks upon the road. 



It has been the custom to make a wide difference between 

 the shoe of a liunter and the shoe of a hack both in form 

 and fastening ; but I maintain, that any such difference 

 is not only unnecessary, but prejudicial. Many a valuable 

 horse has been disabled for a whole season, if not ruined 

 for life, because a badly fitting shoe had been so firmly 

 nailed on, as to prevent it " in a difficulty " from coming 



