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THE SHOEING OE OUR CAVALRY HORSES. 
By George Fleming, F.R.G.S., F.A.S.L., and V.S. King’s 
Own Hussars. 
I, and I am nearly certain, all the army veterinary sur¬ 
geons would esteem it a great boon if you would, with your 
usual courtesy, give insertion to the following remarks, which 
have reference to a matter of great importance, not only as 
affecting their professional reputation in this country and on 
the continent, but as seriously implicating their ability and 
desire—as it is their duty—to maintain the welfare and effi¬ 
ciency of the British army, so far as the very responsible 
charge imposed upon them is concerned. 
In what is intended to be a popular work, now pub¬ 
lishing in shilling parts, and entitled ‘ Our Domestic 
Animals in Health and Disease/ the author while treating 
on the art of shoeing, has felt himself impelled—no doubt 
with the best motives, and with a patriotic desire to be the 
exposer of what he may consider a national calamity—to use 
the following remarkable expressions. In criticising the late 
Professor Coleman’s ideas about the foot of the horse, arid 
the baneful effects of his system of shoeing, he goes on to 
decry the influence by wUich that gentleman managed to in¬ 
troduce all his suggestions into the army, and says : “Effects 
followed causes. The good part of Mr. Coleman’s teaching 
stood the test of time, and now 7 , when it can be shown that 
the health of our cavalry horses is greatly improved, compared 
to old times, lameness prevails undiminished, so much so, 
that we never witness a sale of cast-off military horses that 
is not composed, to the extent of about two thirds of the 
whole number, of lame horses, mostly preventible cases, and 
many of them curable by the simple application of a better 
system of shoeing than now 7 prevails in the service.” 
“The army affords the best means for training men up to 
the highest standard that distinguishes individuals, but in 
horse-shoeing the reverse has been the case; it has actually 
afforded a field in which inexperienced men have tried their 
hands, set at nought whatever was sound of old, and brought 
their pernicious schemes to bear their fruits.” 
Now it is difficult to make oneself believe that the man 
wdio writes in these terms of a most important department of 
our army can be really sincere. Certainly, to those who 
know how 7 this most essential division of the army veterinary 
