324 SHOEING HORSES. 



bone, and it can be torn away by violence or when purification 

 has commenced with great ease. 



Hence it is that in the foot more than any other part of the 

 horse " prevention is better than cure," because in many of its 

 diseases it happens that cures cannot be effected without long 

 rests. 



SHOEING HOESES. 



Horse-shoeing was first introduced into England by "William 

 the Conqueror in about A. D. 1060, more than eight hundred 

 years ago ; and while we have schools and colleges for the in- 

 struction of students in the treatment and cure of the diseases 

 of the horse, yet we expect those whose daily business is to 

 perform surgical operations upon a delicately organized mem- 

 ber to be reasonably successful without having learned even 

 the alphabet of their profession. 



Among shoers of the horse there are undoubtedly indi- 

 viduals of intelligence and ingenuity who would be glad of an 

 opportunity of testing the validity of their practice by an 

 appeal to the condition of the hidden springs, levers, pulleys, 

 cushions, and powers comprising the mechanism of the feet and 

 legs as explained by those who have made such a life-long 

 study. Perhaps some of the readers of this book may live to 

 see the day when a public shoer of horses will be required by 

 the law of our land to be a graduate of some school or college 

 for the purpose ; just as a veterinary surgeon or an M.D. will 

 be required to be a graduate and display a diploma or be sub- 

 jected to penalties more or less severe for practicing either 

 without. 



The injuries liable to be done to the horse's foot by bad 

 shoeing are numerous, but in some cases not immediately in- 

 flicted. They are, however, only the more dangerous on this 

 account. They are brought on gradually by _ the continued 

 evil practive of bad shoeing until the horse is totally destroyed 

 by it, the owner never suspecting the true cause of the diffi- 

 culty ; or if he should hint such a thing, his blacksmith, watch- 

 ful of his own interests, refers it to anything but the shoeing- 



