The Plymouth Meeting. 
577 
appeared in the Journal, indicate very clearly that there is 
great room for improvement in horse-shoeing as at present 
practised. The competitions have been followed with the utmost 
interest by visitors to the Shows, and by fellow-craftsmen of the 
candidates, and it cannot be doubted that their practical and 
educational value has been very great. The Society has not 
been unmindful in the past of the importance of horse-shoeing, 
and an article on the subject appeared in its Journal so long 
ago as 1857, from the competent pen of Mr. W. Miles ; followed 
in 1881 by a paper by Dr. George Fleming, the principal 
veterinary surgeon of the Army, and in 1888 by a practical 
treatise on the structure of the horse's foot, and the principles 
of shoeing, by Professor Brown, the professional adviser in the 
Veterinary Department of the Board of Agriculture and the 
Principal of the Boyal Veterinary College. But, undoubtedly, 
the object lessons given by the competitions at the Shows of the 
Royal and other Agricultural Societies have greatly assisted to 
attract the sympathetic attention of the public to the efforts 
which are being made to secure the shoeing of our horses on 
scientific and humane principles, for every one who uses his eyes 
can see for himself in these competitions how very much the 
present methods of shoeing-smiths leave to be desired. 
At the first competition of smiths held by the Society at 
its Newcastle Meeting (1887), at the suggestion and under the 
stewardship of that staunch friend of the cause, Mr. Charles Clay, 
there were 42 entries, divided into four classes, viz. agricultural 
horses, dray horses, hunters, and roadsters, and 64Z. was offered in 
prizes. The following year, at the Nottingham Show (1888), the 
sum of 32/. for prizes was given by the Society for a horse- 
shoeing competition, but in two classes (hunters and agricultural 
horses) instead of four. At this Show, at which 58 smiths com- 
peted, the Worshipful Company of Farriers first became associ- 
ated with the Society by presenting the Freedom of their Guild 
to the first prizeman in each class — an honour which has been 
highly appreciated by the recipients. At the Windsor Show 
last year the sum of 42Z. was devoted to a shoeing competition 
in two classes (draught horses and harness horses), and the 
whole of this prize money was generously provided by the 
Worshipful Company of Farriers, in addition to the Freedom of 
their Guild to the first prize-winner in each class. For the 
Plymouth Show, the sum of 42/. was offered in prizes for two 
classes (hunters and agricultural horses), and there were 29 
entries, the Farriers' Company again offering the Freedom of 
the Company to the first prize-winner io each class, and also 
giving the first prize in each class. 
