19 



possesses many and great advantages over leather ; it offers 

 more effectual resistance to the stones ; is impervious to wet ; 

 and, not being acted upon chemically by the ii-on, as leather 

 is, it lasts much longer. I then used waterproofed felt, a 

 quarter of an inch thick, which answered the purpose 

 admirably, but that manufacture failed, and I am again 

 obliged to use leather. 



I am aware, that many persons will imagine, that there 

 must be something peculiar in the work, my horses have 

 to perform, wliich enables them to retain their shoes with 

 so few nails ; I will therefore detail one or two cases, in 

 which horses, not my own, have done efficient work, in shoes 

 fastened by three naUs. The first, which occurs to me, is 

 that of a Barrister, who travelled the Western Circuit ; his 

 horse came to Exeter ■with seven naUs in one fore shoe, 

 and eight in the other. I had some difficidty in persuading 

 him to permit me to diminish the number of nails ; because 

 he assured me, that he had most perseveringiy tried first 

 five, and then six, but he so perpetually lost his shoes, 

 that he was obliged at last to have recourse to seven or 

 eight. I may observe, that the horse in qviestion was a hot, 

 impetuous animal, and one very hkely to cast his shoes 

 firom the pecuharity of his gait, which at starting was that 

 of a " pacer," that is, he moved the two legs of the same 

 side together, like a camel, but after dancing along for 

 some time in this manner he fell into a good, measured 

 trot. The change from one pace to the other was effected 

 by a sort of scramble, in which he contrived to place the 

 toe of a hind shoe, upon the heel of a fore one, and thus 



