ON SHOEING HORSES. 
485 
front is so thin I can with difficulty only drive a nail without the 
risk of lameness. He muttered to his son, “ Never know his rate, 
down in the betting, and scratched at the corner.” I supposed he 
meant what was the use of my scratching out the corn places. 
Now, I had some doubts before this of the utility of this practice; 
but with this class of horses there is no doubt of it, whether the 
heels are sprung or not; thus artificially cutting away a part which, 
even if the colt was without shoes, does not wear down suffi¬ 
ciently, and with shoes does not wear in the least. You therefore 
are doing in this case what is consistent with Nature, i. e., you 
weaken the part, allow of the heels wearing, and the downward 
motion, but as to any descent of the sole only at this part, as is 
generally supposed by paring the corn places, you may easily con¬ 
vince 3 'ourselves that is “ all my eye and Betty Martin,” as the 
23d experiment of Mr. Gloag literally proves it to be “ from yield¬ 
ing of the whole hoof backwards.” “You are right Bill:” I was 
going to say something similar about the carriage-horse we had in 
the shop yesterday, but I won’t put you out. Go on.” 
Well; I was in the habit of going up to Mr. B.’s to see if all was 
right, and he said to me, “ The old bay begins to go stale, and I 
cannot see anything wrong about the legs; just look at his feet.” I 
believe he was the trial horse, and, of course, had had a deal to do 
in his own time : rattled along against the young uns, his feet, 
which had originally been very good, were now beginning to fail 
under this continued exertion. From what I could learn, he had 
always been shod level at the heels, which there had been no neces¬ 
sity to spring; but it was evident that something of this kind was 
now required, for as the heels could not get down, as Mr. Gloag 
describes, in the right direction, the foot was going backwards 
altogether. Now, mates, how are we to shoe a foot of this descrip¬ 
tion 1 If you cannot tell, perhaps some of our masters can ? Well; 
I sprung the heels of the shoes of this horse a little, but the foot 
only seemed to go more backwards; however, I did not mind that, 
but persevered, and in time, but by growth only, the foot in some 
measure recovered. At first, I said to Mr. B., “You had better 
consult young master, who has been at college.” “ Oh ! no. The 
first word from his mouth will be rest, next bleeding from the foot, 
then a frog seton, tips, and a run at grass. Rest he cannot; bleed 
he will most likely by Sam’s spurs ; and the whip by way of seton, 
to tip the young uns the go by; grass can never grow under his 
feet.” Here it is! The first part of Mr. Gloag’s observations on 
experiment 17th, p. 13, is expected by proprietors of horses from 
us, and whether or not we shall ever improve upon the means 
here mentioned as successful, remains to be proved. In support of 
the likelihood of it, I can only say, the ease given is on the prin- 
