be better than anything else, ‘even in the case of horses that had had their feet abused for a series of years.’ This book, however, coming, as it does, from a farrier of forty years’ experience, contains noteworthy remarks. Great stress is laid on the importance of paring the crust only, leaving the frog and sole to exfoliate of their own accord, and also taking the greatest care to pare down the crust perfectly level on all sides, so that the foot may stand quite upright. ‘If we wish to examine a perfect foot, such as Nature made it, it is generally necessary to find one that has never been shod; for the common mode of shoeing is so frequently destructive, that we seldom meet with a horse whose feet have not lost, in some degree, their original form, and this deviation from their natural shape is generally proportioned to the length of time they have worn shoes. From this circumstance, writers on farriery have been led to form various opinions respecting the most desirable form for a horse’s foot; but had an ever provident Nature been consulted, this variety of opinion, it seems to me, would never have existed.’
It is strange that Mr. Russell, after expressing himself thus, should have come to the conclusion that more than a score of different patterns and principles were necessary to help Nature. The fact is that these various kinds of shoes are only so many orthopedic instruments which he considers useful for ‘cripples.’ So all his inventive powers have been thrown away when ‘four inches of iron curled round the toe’ are found to answer better
