Statement of Truth and Scientific Facts 



NCE upon a time I was asked, What do you 

 think of life, anyway ? Life, I said, is an art, 

 while married life in some sense of the word is 

 like horse-shoeing, it is a science. It differs only 

 that each is in a class by itself. In married life 

 it is a science to keep love in circulation. In 

 horse-shoeing, it is a science to keep the blood of a short 

 hoof in circulation. Of course it is not science to kick a 

 man when he is down, that is pure hate, rather is it science 

 to put on a calk shoe on a horse's contracted foot, that is 

 cruel. But when we know how and have a cliance to rise 

 after we are down, and, when we know also and have the 

 opportunity how to restore normal conditions to a diseased 

 foot. I think we know then a good deal about the cause of 

 either of it. And when we know the cause of a trouble 

 there is then no uncertainty of a remedy. It may be asked 

 what is the cause of preventing the blood from free circula- 

 tion in a horse's foot? One cause is contraction, and con- 

 traction is the mother of most foot evils, such as corns, 

 quarter cracks, side bones, coffin joint, lameness, crowding 

 the frog and destroying its functions, stumbling, over 

 reaching, scalping, cross firing, etc., and so on. 



And contraction can be caused by improper paring or 

 trimming of the feet or an uneven bearing on the foot caus- 

 ed by an ill-fitted shoe, this causes fever to the foot which 

 interferes with the free circulation of the blood. It causes 

 the horny wall to shrink and gives a feeling to a horse like 

 a tight boot that pinches our own feet. In speaking of con- 

 traction and improper trimming : Contraction can be 

 brought on by leaving the heels too high. A horse when in 

 motion lands at the heels on his front feet first, and, any ex- 

 tra hoof beyond the laminated structures cannot carry the 

 same weight as the normal foot, without injuring the foot. 



