THE horse's rescue. 21 



strength against thousands of horses and mCiles, and it 

 is surprising to me that shoeis last as long as they do 

 If you want your horse well shod, give your shoer 

 plenty of time to do it, and pay hiia well; for no man 

 can do a good job,, at any kind of business, if he is 

 hurried, and goes blundering along. Ironing the 

 horse's foot is, or should be, the most scientific piece 

 of mechanical work ever done ; and yet it is but glim- 

 meringly understood. "No one is to blame ; all are 

 studying and trying their level best to find their way 

 out of tliis entanglement, and I have been in that same 

 fix for vears. 



Nine years previous to the date of this work I " dug 

 out," which I will show in the course of this work. 

 The shoer is expected to do what is impossible for him 

 to do, and it is unjust to blame him or hold him re- 

 sponsible for your horse in any way, for many reasons. 

 In the first place, he does not have your horse in his 

 care, neither does he drive him. He shoes him and 

 he is gone, and the owner takes no care of his feet. 

 Perhaps he exchanges for another, cr sells him — that 

 is going on all the time, and always will be. The shoer 

 does the best he can. The horse comes to him, his 

 leet dry and hard-shrunken. He pares his feet and 

 irons him. This treatment will spoil all cupping feet. 

 In fact, there is no use trying to lay down any princi- 

 ples to iron the horses feet to prevent him from chang- 

 ing from natural, for he is traveling on unnatural feet 

 all of the time, unless he is dfead. There has been a 

 large amount of talk about shoes, and all to no pur- 

 pose. There are no curing properties in shoes. There 

 is one principle that helps a little if proper care is 



