140 
The Principles of Horse-Shoeing. 
and of a faulty shape ; 3. Employing too many or too large 
nails ; 4. Applying shoes too small, and removing the wall 
of the hoofs to make the feet fit the shoes ; 5. Rasping the 
front of the hoof. 
The shoe should give the foot a level natural bearing on the 
ground. Calks are hurtful, and may easily be dispensed with, if 
the shoes have a concave ground surface, and the frog is allowed 
to come fully in contact with the ground. 
The manufacture of horse-shoes and nails by machinery is 
destined to confer a great boon on horse-owners. The North 
Metropolitan Tramway Company has more than two thousand 
horses, and these are all shod with the Seeley horse-shoes and 
nails. The shoes are of the pattern I have for years recom- 
mended, and are made of excellent iron, which allows them to 
be altered in shape without the necessity for heating. The 
shoes are altered and fitted in a cold state, and the nails being 
pointed ready for use, a horse can be shod in very much less 
time than in the ordinary way, and certainly very much better. 
One farrier can easily keep from eighty to a hundred horses 
regularly shod, and the method is so economical that it is cal- 
culated the Company has saved more than lOOOZ. per annum 
since they adopted it. 
Shoes with a concave ground surface, such as I have approved, 
not only secure a better footing on paved roads and grass-land, 
but they do not afford any space lor the lodgment of stones, 
mud. Sic, between them and the hoof ; in heavy ground suction 
is greatly diminished, while in snow, " balling " is not so likely 
to take place. 
With the Seeley shoes and nails, the suppression of paring 
and unnecessary rasping, and the method of cold fitting, the 
farrier's art is deprived of its most pernicious evils, and rendered 
so simple that there should be no more mystery or excuse for 
not understanding it on the part of horsemen. 
With regard to special shoeing and shoes for particular cases, 
I do not venture to speak in this place. These are more in the 
domain of the veterinary surgeon than the amateur or farrier ; 
but it may be noted that in these instances the art of farriery 
lends invaluable aid to those who know best how to avail them- 
selves of its resources. 
