Report on the Horse-shoeing Competition at Nottingham. G-i9 
I regret to say that not one of the candidates could answer all 
the questions correctly, and to my great surprise several of the 
men confessed they knew nothing about these things, and had 
not given any attention thereto. The answers given by others, 
although often amusing, displayed a most lamentable ignorance 
of even the common names of the various parts, and only in 
one or two instances was any approach to scientific terms 
applied to them. 
Under these depressing circumstances it becomes a very 
serious question how to deal Avith this matter in future. That 
something should be attempted to raise the shoeing of horses 
to a higher and more scientific position is, I think, now beyond 
all cavil.' It is evident that the smiths themselves are not in 
a position to acquire the necessary education, and I am sorry 
to say the veterinary profession do not seem to give the atten- 
tion to this question which I think it demands from them. I 
am informed that horse-shoeing is usually considered as not 
altogether within their purview, that it is a farrier s business 
entirely, and that if improvement is desirable the smiths must 
take up the matter and improve themselves. This is an easy 
way out of the difficulty, and may be very well from a pro- 
fessional point of view ; but I would ask : ilow are the smiths 
to acquire this knowledge ? If none of them are in a position 
to teach even themselves, they cannot certainly impart the in- 
formation to their workmen and apprentices, and so the rule of 
thumb must remain their standard, to the continued detriment 
of our horses' feet, with all its consequent evils. 
Surely this only points to the necessity for the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society interesting itself more earnestly in this question, 
and by distributing printed matter with plain intelligible draw- 
ings and possibly cheap models of the horse's foot, and by other 
means available, to endeavour to raise the status of the men 
employed in this business. 
I would venture to suggest that our veterinary surgeons might 
with advantage be induced to acquire a pi-actical as well as a 
theoretical knowledge of horse-shoeing, so that they should be 
able themselves to forge the shoes and fit them on. The Royal 
Agricultural Society, having satisfied themselves by examination 
and practical tests, might grant certificates to such surgeons 
throughout the country, and it should be the duty of the latter, 
for some small fee, to teach the smiths in their respective dis- 
tricts the scientific principles of horse-shoeing, and see that they 
' In support of this I may add that the answers given to the same set of 
questions at the shoeing competition of the Great Yorkshire Agricultural 
Society held in Huddorsfield in August last were equally unsatisfactory. 
