TH R K E-QU ARTER E D SHOE . 
519 
them in, particularly if they are not so far advanced that no one step 
short of a seven-leagued boot can overtake them. As a remedy for 
cutting, the value of the three-quarter shoe has long been known ; 
and I believe that in every case where the opposite plan of thick- 
ening the inside hoof fails, this will succeed. For hunting, I 
anticipate the most important results : from its superior safety, 
its lessened chance of coming off, its prevention of slipping, and 
the ease with which the foot can be raised from ploughed or 
heavy ground, will, I doubt not, ensure its universal adoption. 
This however remains to be tried. I do really think, therefore, 
that it is the ne plus ultra , the acme of perfection in the art 
and mystery of horse shoeing. 
As to the originality of this step in the march of improvement, 
I am afraid that the less said the better ; for I have a sort of un- 
defined dread hovering over me of having seen something about 
it somewhere ; however, I shall not try to see it, nor shall I refer 
to James Turner’s paper, nor any body else’s paper, fearing I 
may there read something like my own ideas. 1 therefore at 
once acknowledge that I do not recollect, nor will I try to recol- 
lect, any thing that any body has said, sung or written on the 
subject, and so I shall “ leave myself alone in my glory.” 
The only “untoward events” J have met with are, being obliged 
to give it up in two cases, and have recourse to felt shoes and lea- 
thers, and in meeting with an anticipation, which happened thus : 
1 had occasion to wait some little time at a coachmaker’s in 
Stoke Newington, while a false step was being replaced to my 
chaise, when a respectable old man, a retired smith, came into 
the yard — a retired shoeing smith remember. Of course, we had a 
little professional chat. 1 asked him if he did not use to doctor 
a little as well as shoe? “No,” he replied; “I know nothing 
about it, and never pretended to it, for I had as much work as 
I could do without it.” He was no theorist therefore ; for what 
theorist ever made a fortune in this world, however clever he 
might be? He may, indeed, have laid the foundation for another 
man’s fortune, but as to making his own — bah ! Well, in the 
fulness of my heart I could not help telling him of my important 
step. “ Yes, sir,” was his reply ; “it is a very good one, and par- 
ticularly for flat feet; it gets the heels up so strong. It is now 
about twelve years ago that l recommended a gentleman, whose 
horse had large flat feet, and was always going lame, to have 
him shod with three-quarter shoes; he agreed to it, and I shod 
him so up to the time of my giving up business, and he never 
went lame after.” I’ll be hanged if I knew whether to laugh or 
cry, to be pleased or vexed with this desperate forestalled who 
