ON PO DOM ETIUC SHOEING COLD. 
591 
longer teased by subduing him to obedience thence, would have 
no occasion for twitches, bonds, &c., but would have to make use 
only of kind, coaxing usage, such as was said to be unknown in the 
forge. 
Heaps of faults were found with the old method of shoeing, and 
all sorts of harm-doing ascribed to those who practised it, in order 
to make room for, and give tclat to, the new introduction. It was 
said that nothing could be more objectionable than the methods of 
measuring the foot by means of a blade of straw, or turning a shoe 
for it after the pattern of the old shoe ; and that in such ways as 
these no exact fit ever took place. 
To obviate these objections it was that podometric shoeing, cold 
and at home, was recommended. And in taking measure of the 
foot, should the smith not immediately make the shoe, or should he 
have several other feet to shoe, he is able either to delineate upon 
paper or in his register the figure of the foot he has been measuring. 
For which purpose he lays the podometer upon the paper, and 
traces accurately with a pencil its outline. And the workman who 
has not a podometer with him, may yet avail himself of a very 
simple means to take measure of the foot. Let him apply a sheet 
of paper upon the ground surface of the pared hoof, and then apply 
pressure all round the circumference of the hoof, so as to make an 
impression upon the paper which he can afterwards trace with pen 
or pencil. And in the forge he can afterwards measure this against 
the shoe by the aid of his podometer. 
If the horse is being shod for the first time, the smith, after having 
taken off the shoe and pared out the foot, and taken measure of it 
with his podometer, selects an appropriate shoe according to 
ordinary procedure. Then he compares the turn of the shoe he 
has taken with the curve in . his podometer, and modifies it if 
requisite. 
Whenever the horse has once been shod on the podometric prin- 
ciple, the smith searches in his register in the forge for the im- 
print of his foot, of which he takes the dimensions with his 
podometer, and afterwards acts as though he had taken measure of 
the foot itself. 
To shape the shoe of the opposite foot, he does nothing but re- 
verse the podometer, and proceed afterwards in the same manner 
as for the first. The shoe having been cooled, stamped, and filed 
up, the smith fits it to the foot with his improved rasp, and then 
nails it on in the ordinary manner. 
This — the podometric method, specially recommended for the 
army — has been for some years in practice, either by way of trial, 
or else as established in several regiments. Nevertheless, nobody 
but M. Reynal has ever made known the practical results of it. 
