12 RATIONAL HOUSE-SHOEING. 



hoof feel the pressure of contraction, the knees 

 bond forward in an attempt to relieve the 

 contracted heel. In this action the use of 

 the leg is partially lost. The horse endeavors 

 to secure a new bearing, interferes in move- 

 ment, or stands in uneasy torture. 



Nature frequently seeks relief by bursting 

 the dry and contracted shell, in what is 

 known as quarter or toe crack, and the mis- 

 erable victim becomes practically useless at 

 an age when his powers should be in their 

 prime. 



Every horseman will acknowledge that 

 his experience has a parallel in the picture 

 here presented. Many men have at various 

 times attempted reform, but the difficulty 

 heretofore encountered has been that the 

 mechanical application was in the hands, not 

 of the owners and reasoners, but in those of 

 a class of men who are, for the most part, 

 ignorant, prejudiced, and, consequently, apt 

 to oppose any innovation upon the old abuses 

 in which they have had centuries of vested 

 right; and it was not until the studies of Mr. 

 U. A. Goodenough that there Avere brought 



