22 



bad roads, as can be conceived, carrying his shoes safely- 

 through all the difficulties ; and he argued with himself, 

 that if one smith can so shoe a horse, another ought to 

 be able to do the like ; or the defect must be in liimself, 

 and not in the horse, or the roads. To such an extent is 

 the desire carried of imputing the fault to anything, rather 

 than want of skill in the smitli, that I heard it gravely as- 

 serted a short time ago, that shoeing with five nails might 

 possibly answer in Devonshire roads, but it would not do 

 for the roads in and about London. Now, absurd as such 

 a statement must appear to every thinking person, this, or 

 something very like it, is the reason assigned by all those, 

 who prefer torturing their horses, to taking any trouble them- 

 selves ; for they one and all adduce some fancied pecuharity 

 in the district, in which they haj^pen to reside, wliich, as 

 they say, must prevent its answering for their horses. 



I may add, that Col. Key, who commanded the 15th 

 Hussars, had his two chargers and two other horses shod 

 with three nails only in each fore shoe, during the year the 

 resfiment was at Exeter ; and an ofiicer of Prussian Hussars, 

 who did me the honor to translate my book into German, 

 and pubhsh it at his own expense, wi-ote me, tliat he also 

 had his horses shod with three nails only, and that he ex- 

 perienced no difficulty whatever in keeping on tlieir shoes. 



I could enumerate many more cases of successful shoeing 

 with three nails, but I refrain from doing so, because these 

 experiments are not recorded with a view of inducing others 

 to trust to such slender fastening ; for, however desirable it 

 may have been to ascertain with precision the smallest num- 



