PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
THE favourable reception of the earlier editions of his 
work, has induced the author to consider whether it is 
possible to improve or extend it; and it has been suggested 
to him by many whose interest in the subject is well known, 
that on one topic, highly important to all owners of horses 
—“Shoeing”’—a chapter might advantageously be added. 
This has been done; and in treating the subject, the aim 
has been to deal with facts and to avoid speculation. Though 
no new discovery can be claimed, it is hoped that it will be 
found, in the result, that the best method of shoeing and of 
the treatment of the foot has been not only discussed but 
actually verified ; and that the prevention which, in the diseases 
of the feet, as in all others, is better than cure, has been placed 
nearer the reach of all. It would be ungrateful on the 
author’s part if he did not avail himself of this opportunity 
to express his sense of the generous treatment of his critics. 
Lengthy and favourable notices of his book have been the 
rule without an exception, and in these he feels its faults 
have been extenuated, its virtues extolled. 
SHIPTON, MARLBOROUGH, 
May, 1881. 
