100 THE MULE. 



how little pressure it would bear, and you will have 

 some idea of the cruelty of applying this " specific 

 method." Sometimes bar-shoes and other contrivances 

 are used, to keep the inside of the foot from coming 

 down. But why do this? Why not get at once a 

 shoe adapted to the spreading of the foot. Tyrell's 

 shoe for this purpose is the best I have yet seen. We 

 have used it in the Government service for two years, 

 and experience has taught me that it has advantages 

 that ought not to be overlooked. But even this shoe 

 may be used to disadvantage by ignorant hands. In- 

 deed, in the hands of a blacksmith who prefers "his 

 own way," some kinds of feet may be just as badly in- 

 jured by it as others are benefited. The United States 

 Army affords the largest field for gaining practical 

 knowledge concerning the diseases, especially of the 

 feet, with which horses and mules are afi&icted. During 

 the late war, when so little care was given to animals 

 in the field, when they were injured in every con- 

 ceivable manner, and by all sorts of accidents, the 

 veterinary found a field for study such as has never 

 been opened before. 



Experience has taught me, that common sense is one 

 of the most essential things in the treatment of a horse's 

 foot. You must remember that horses' feet differ as 

 well as men's, and require different treatment, espe- 

 cially in shoeing. You must shoe the foot according to 

 its peculiarity and demands, not according to any 

 specific " system of shoe." Give the ground surface 

 a level bearing, let the frog come to the ground, and 

 the weight of the mule rest on tlie frog as much as any 



