124 THE ART OF HlDRSE-SHOEING. 



most suitable horses are those with over-grown hoofs. 

 "Under no circumstances should a vicious or very fidgety 

 horse be selected. 



When time is not an object, the best test of a work- 

 m.an is to require him to make a fore and hind shoe and 

 put them on the horse. At a one-day show, or at a com- 

 petition when the entries are large, it is sufficient to 

 require the making of a fore and hind shoe and the 

 fitting and nailing on of the front one. A reasonable 

 time should be fixed, and undue haste should be depre- 

 cated. 



There should always be two judges, who should be 

 supi^lied with books in which each division of the opera- 

 tion of shoeing should be separately marked. There are 

 only three important divisions of the subject : (1) Pre- 

 paration of the foot; (2) making the shoes; and (3) fitting 

 and nailing on. 



Sometimes these ojDerations are marked separately 

 for fore and hind feet. I consider this quite unnecssary. 

 There is not sufficient difference either in principle or 

 detail to require each foot to be specially marked. The 

 judge, of course, notes everything in his mind, and it is 

 sufficient for him to estimate and mark the value of the 

 work under the three different operations. The great 

 fault I find with most competitions is that " the prepara- 

 tion " of the foot for the shoe is not more strictly defined. 

 The competitors are permitted to mix up the ' ' prepara- 

 tions " and the "fitting." Some of them do nothing to 

 the foot until they commence to fit the shoe. This is 

 Avrong, and every foot should be properly prepared — the 

 bearing-surface formed and the proportions of the hoof 

 attended to — before the fitting is attempted. A rule to 

 this effect should be added to the conditions in the sche- 

 dule of the competition. Each judge may perhaps be 

 permitted to fix his own standard of marking, but a uni- 

 form system would be useful for comparison. If the 

 maximum be indicated by too small a figure, difficulty 

 often arises in exactly determining the merits of men 

 who have come out equal in the totals, and there is too 

 often, in a large class, a number whose marks are about 



