MR. BROAD IN REPLY TO MR. FLEMING. 643 
of iron,” &c.; neither did I say that a number of nails are 
necessary. And the following extract from the Field of 
February 13th, 1869, will show the readers of the Veteri¬ 
narian how he has distorted mv statements in that article : 
“ I was astonished, as most experienced men Avould be, 
upon reading Mr. Fleming’s statement that the Charlier 
system of shoeing was the nearest to perfection yet adopted. 
Did not Messrs. Mavor, four or five years since, give that 
shoe, or one as near like it as possible, such a trial as it could 
not have had in any other firm in England ? and what has 
become of it? It is almost or entirely abandoned, because it 
was found not to be so good for general use as the old sys¬ 
tem. Extremely light shoes might do very well on Mr. 
Fleming’s horses, or on many others which do very little 
work, but test it on a horse which really works, and, how¬ 
ever good his feet may be at the commencement, they will 
very soon become deteriorated; and if it is tried on a horse 
whose feet are had or any ways tender, lameness will quickly 
he the result. Stout shoes for any other purpose than the 
field are the best, as they lessen the concussion, which is the 
principal cause of disease of the feet. The worst feet require 
the stoutest shoes. I have known hundreds of cases of lame¬ 
ness in the forefeet, where the animals were relieved in a day, 
only from putting on extremely heavy shoes, which not only 
enables a tender-footed horse to work free from lameness, but 
also tend to keep his feet sound. Calkiiigs on fore-shoes are 
very injurious, but not so much so on the hind ones; where 
the roads are not slippery it is better to do without them. I 
have adopted the plan of not paring good feet for nearly thirty 
years, and still continue it; but there are very many horses 
whose feet are far from being good, and many naturally bad 
—some with low weak heels, all the strength or nutriment 
going to the toe; others with fiat soles, weak crust, and very 
large frogs. In the first place it is necessary to pare the sole 
at the toe as it cannot be done properly with the rasp’) to 
be able to lower the crust sufficiently to prevent the weight 
being too much on the weak heels. With flat weak feet the 
frogs are often so large that the horses cannot work sound, 
either with or without leather soles, unless the frogs are kept 
pared. It is quite impossible that one rule can be carried 
out in preparing the foot for the shoe.” 
The above remarks are what Mr. Fleming terms a “ strange 
statement” to make, and one totally at variance with com¬ 
mon sense and daily experience : and though it was put forth 
in opposition to certain opinions he (Mr. Fleming) had pub- 
