INTRODUCTION. 3 



pecuniary interest in the trade, I may say that such mat- 

 ters should not be allowed to decide between one farrier 

 a,nd another, A bad workman may do an injury at one 

 shoeing which will cost the owner of the horse more 

 than would pay ten times over the difference between 

 his charges and the higher prices of a better man. 



Many years ago I knew a firm who changed their 

 farrier and system of shoeing for a cheaper plan. The 

 cost for shoeing alone was decreased by $375 in the year, 

 but the cost of horse-flesli rose in that year m.ore than 

 S5f)0. The old saw — " that for want of a nail the shoe 

 ■was lost, for want of a shoe the horse Yv'^as lost, and for 

 want of a horse the man was lo.st," has been illustrated 

 times without niirnber. Few persons, however, are 

 ii.ware of the terrible consequences which have more than 

 cnce attended neglect in the shoeing of horses. N'apo- 

 i eon's retreat from Moscow depended for most of its 

 liRTdships and horrors upon the simple fact that his 

 iiorses were noo^liod properly for travelling on snow and 

 ioe. The horses could not keep their feet, and were 

 unable to drag the guns and wagons, which had to be 

 abandoned. During the Franco-Prussian war, Bour- 

 baki's retreat beca,me a confused rout from a similar 

 cause. Ill civil life no winter presses without injury and 

 d^ath to hundreds of horses from the same neglect. 

 These are instances that au^'-one can see; but heavy 

 losses due to bad shoeing are constant from other and less 

 evident evils — from ths adoption of wrong methods and 

 the practice of erroneous theories. 



The farrier has not been f a:rly treated by the public. 

 His practical knowledge has been ignored, ho has been 

 ii.\«triicted by amateurs in all sorts of theories, and 

 coerced into carrying out practices for the untoward 

 renidts of which he has been blamed. The natural conse- 

 quence of ali this has been that tlie art of farriery 

 dogenerate<l, and the farrier was forced into a position 

 d-jstractive to the self-respc^ct of any craftsman. In no 

 other tra<le do persons entirely ignorant of the business 

 presume to direct and dictate as to how the work should 

 be done. No one presumes to instruct the watch-maker 



