TIPS TO BE TRIED. 137 



Does " Frog " speak from personal experience when he says that 

 horses are worked barefoot abroad ? In the case of the most horse- 

 loving of Continental nations I 'can assert the contrary. I have 

 visited every province of Austria, and found the horses universally 

 shod with a fidl shoe. Hungarian and Polish horses, if any, should 

 be able to go barefoot, owing to the practice that largely prevails of 

 allowing the foals to*^ I'un alongside while the dam is in harness. 

 Whilst living in the house of a horse-breeder in Transylvania I have 

 seen two mares harnessed to the conveyance, and, when fairly under 

 way, found we were accompanied by six young colts and fillies, from 

 rising one to rising three years old, each of the matrons claiming 

 three of these, with the prospect of sQon increasing the number. 

 With a view to testing in one case what appears to be still a theory, 

 I have had the shoes taken off one of my nags, a thoroughbred mai-e 

 that I use solely for hacking, and shall try the effect of riding her 

 without shoe or tip. Borderer. 



HORSE SHOEING. 



Sir, — With your permission, I will endeavor to give " Mustang " 

 the information he desires respecting the imitation hoof shod a la 

 Charlier, by forwarding you a photo of the same which I have just 

 had taken, feeling sure that " Mustang " and the gentleman from 

 whom I have received letters asking for particulars will be able to 

 learn more from it (if you will kindly give a sketch of it) than from 

 any description which I could give with pen and ink. I may, how- 

 ever, remark that it is a true model of a foot shod at M. Charlier's 

 forge, on his principle for six months, and showing how well devel- 

 oped the frog, bars, and sole will become, if only left alone. With 

 a strong, thick crust the shoes may be shortened a good inch, and 

 especially when a horse has to travel over slippery roads. Thus 

 modified, I prefer them to tips, although until the foot has attained 

 something like its natural state, I am a strong advocate for the full 

 Charlier shoe, which, being of uniform thickness, and with the groove 

 made deeper at the toe than at the heel, pi'eserves the latter from 

 undue wear, and consequently encourages its growth. It will 



