184 THE CANADIAN HOESB 



This idea probably arose from tbe great importance which 

 William the Conqueror attached to farriery. 



Professor Dick has summed up the whole discussion on 

 shoeing in the following remark : — " After a personal ex- 

 perience of nearly fifty years, I have come to the conclusion 

 that the whole art of shoeing consists in applying a shoe so 

 that it will serve as a defence to the foot, without injuring 

 it." Within the last fifty years great improvements have 

 taken place in the art, and a great many able experiments 

 with different forms of shoes, and difi'erent methods of apply- 

 ing them, have been made by veterinarians. The works of 

 Coleman, Osmer, Moorcroft, Turner, Clark, Dick, Miln, 

 Fitzwygram, and others, are particularly worthy of a careful 

 perusal. 



THE SEATED SHOE. 



Ingenious as many of the experiments have been, and 

 valuable the information they have furnished, none of them 

 have yet been able to surpass, for all purposes, the plain 

 seated shoe first introduced by Osmer, and subsequently 

 slightly improved by Moorcroft. It is now almost universally 

 used, and can be seen in almost every forge ; and were our 

 farriers to follow out the objects which Osmer's shoe is so 

 well adapted to secure,— 'viz., equable bearing for the crust, 

 and safe protection for the sole, — we would have fewer horses 

 lamed from shoeing. Seldom, indeed, does the country 

 smith take the trouble to make the shoe properly. 



In making the seated shoe, the work the horse is intended 

 for, and the nature and condition of his foot, must be taken 

 into consideration, and the weight and size of the shoe, the 

 width of the web, &c., must be regulated accordingly. The 

 upper or foot surface must be seated ; that is, the part which 

 is to receive the crust should be perfectly flat all round, of 

 the width of the crust to the heels, where it is flat the whole 



