11 



and legs in the best shape, the advantages of the system could not be 

 overrated. While offering excuses for the faults alluded to, I present 

 with the utmost confidence my views, with confirmed belief that the 

 system recommended is altogether the most rational method of hoi'se- 

 shoeing, and when the advantages are realized it will supercede that 

 which for centuries has been known to be faulty. 



I do not claim novelty in the use of tips or " lunette " shoes. They 

 are of comparatively ancient origin. But I do claim that the man- 

 ner of placing them on the feet in a great measure nullified the 

 benefits. The plan of cutting a shoulder for the posterior portion of 

 the tip to rest against, and thus giving the bottom of the foot a level 

 and natural bearing, was unknown to me until I discovered it in the 

 way whicli is told ; and I have yet to meet a blacksmith who was 

 acquainted with the plan until I made it public. The letters which 

 are copied from the London Field were published five years after it 

 was put in type here ; and therefore I can claim priority of them. 

 Simple as it is, I believe it to be the corner-stone of the system. 

 When the tip is "feathered" it either has to be set with so much in- 

 cline on the foot surface as to make a strain on the wall, or the toe 

 is raised so much higher than it should be that the proper bearing is 

 destroyed. The square shoulder is also an advantage in keeping the 

 tip in the proper place when the nails are driven ; but it makes the 

 work of fitting much more troublesome. This is one of the reasons 

 why blacksmiths are so averse to the setting of tips, though their 

 greatest antipathy arises from the nearly universal determination to 

 stick to the old ruts. Until this is overcome it will be difiicult for 

 owners to get their horses shod satisfactorily unless under their per- 

 sonal supervision, though eventually there will be some of the most 

 enterprising smiths to lead the way, and others will be compelled to 

 follow. That this difficulty will be obviated I feel confident, and in 

 every town of any size there will be one smith who has sense enough 

 to discover that his interests will be promoted by laboring on the 

 side of reform. Until lately I was under the impression that shoe- 

 ing-smiths would have to be educated to a higher degree, and another 

 generation at the forge and on the floor before the work would be 

 properly done. 



