514 ROYAL AND CENTRAL SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE. 
or careless workman, is frequently the cause of very serious ac- 
cidents, and even under ordinary circumstances, and when per- 
formed with all possible care and skill, it is considered as a cause 
of the deterioration and deformation of the foot, and, conse- 
quently, depreciates the value of the horse, who becomes less 
sure-footed, and, too often, lame. Cold shoeing, therefore, that 
is to say, without the application of hot iron to the foot, is highly 
to be recommended ; but it is a very difficult operation, and re- 
quires great nicety. The time also which it takes, and the care 
which it requires, is contrary to the habits of the forge and un- 
pleasant to the workmen, who find it easier to attack the foot and 
fashion it to the shoe, than to fit the shoe to the foot ; and, con- 
sequently, the part which ought to be protected by the shoe is 
sacrificed to it. 
M. Riquet’s object is to prevent the serious inconveniences to 
which we have just alluded ; and he hopes to be able to do this 
by means of an instrument which he calls a pedometer. This in- 
strument is composed of oval plates of iron or copper, of about three 
centimetres (tVo ths) in length, and fastened together in a manner 
somewhat similar to that in which the pieces composing a watch 
chain are united : these plates move over each other in such a 
manner, that by means of the instrument which results from their 
union the shape of the foot can be represented without difficulty. 
It is made use of in the following manner : — the shoe is taken off, 
and the foot prepared in the usual way. When it is ready to re- 
ceive the new shoe, the farrier applies the pedometer to the foot, 
and takes its exact shape. He then carries this instrument to 
the forge, and applies the hot iron to it as often as he deems ne- 
cessary without doing any harm ; and when he thinks the shoe 
is made of the proper shape, he takes it to the horse and attaches 
it to the foot. 
In order to prevent the loss of time which would be occasioned 
when the horse is to be shod at the stable, by the farrier having 
to come there twice, first to take off the shoe, pare out the foot, 
and ascertain its size and shape, and then to put on the new shoe, 
M. Riquet proposes that in every forge a register shall be kept, 
on the leaves of which shall be an impression of the feet of every 
horse properly pared ; the size and form of the feet to be shod 
can be taken from this impression by means of the pedometer, 
and the shoes adjusted to it before the farrier goes to the stable. 
This, gentlemen, is the pedometrical mode of shoeing horses; 
and it must be admitted that the idea is good, and the invention 
very ingenious. It must be confessed, however, that it cannot be 
considered as perfect; nevertheless it is one step taken towards a 
very considerable improvement, and the author would have ob- 
tained a patent if he had not caused his work to be printed since 
addressing this manuscript to the board. 
