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I was led to this belief from the trouble there was in getting the 

 tips made properly, and then a ten times more arduous task was to 

 get them correctly put on. In my first experiments I made patt-erns 

 of wood, and had them cast by a brass-founder ; and had there been 

 an opportunity of getting some better metal cast in the moulds, such 

 as steel or even malleable iron, I should have adhered to the plan, 

 but the brass wore away so rapidly that I had to change, and I was 

 fortunate in finding a blacksmith who would forge them vezy nearly 

 in accordance with the patterns furnished. Latterly I have met a 

 blacksmith who is as enthusiastic in his advocacy of the use of tips 

 as I am, who has put them on all kinds of horses, including those 

 used for heavy di-aft, and with satisfactory results in all cases. 

 This is Paul Friedhoffer, but as his shops are in San Francisco, the 

 only relief to me was in being enabled to get the tips made as I 

 wanted them, the setting having to be done by myself, as the trouble 

 of sending horses from Oakland offset the labor. And by the way, 

 it is doubtful if I could have continued the seven yeai's' war, if un- 

 able to prepare the foot and nail the tips on myself. In that case I 

 would have been compelled to superintend the job from the start to 

 the finish, and this would have entailed the loss of more time. By 

 doing it myself I was also enabled to see the exact state of the foot, 

 and make changes that were found beneficial. Though the pi-actice 

 has made me more expert in the use of knife, rasp and file, and given 

 me an aptitude to drive a nail where I want it to go, it is a hot job, 

 and one that leaves a soreness of muscle which is not pleasant. Sus- 

 tained, however, by the implicit faith that I was working in a good 

 cause, that the ultimate result would bring amelioi^ation to the ani- 

 mals I have been so intimately connected with for more than a quarter 

 of a century, I have never flinched from the self-imposed task, and for 

 the last three or four years have never lost confidence. I have 

 listened patiently to the arguments offered by the opponents of tips, 

 watched closely for defects in the system which the reasoning on the 

 other side was to disclose, and which at first I thought might over- 

 turn my previous conclusions ; but every succeeding year has added 

 strength to my convictions, and given me renewed courage to adhere. 

 Many years ago I had to select a motto to go on the recoi'ds of a 



