CHAPTER II. 

 Shoeing and the Feet 



SOONER or later, either through one of those 

 temporary indispositions which so frequently 

 place animals on the retired list, or because you 

 are developing that interest in horses in general, 

 and your own in particular, which should be a cause 

 of so much self-congratulation, you begin to " take 

 notice," as we say of the children, and before you are 

 really aware, have fallen a victim to some special 

 opinions regarding shoeing and the treatment of 

 the feet. 



Well for yourself and for your property, if such 

 is the case; because what a foundation is to a house 

 are his feet to a horse, and, as you would not occupy 

 the one if defectively underpinned, so the other can- 

 not long satisfactorily serve you if his shoes do not 

 fit; his feet get out of plumb and his joints fail, in 



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