Complete Guide to Blacksmithing

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. It is certainly true that every owner and driver of horses, as well as every person who professes to be a horseshoer, should have a thorough knowledge of the horse's foot and the requirements in the way of shoeing. But how many do! Even farriers know no more of the horse's hoof, and the scientific require ments for obtaining the best results in any given case, than they have been able to pick up in the exercise of their trade. This kind of knowl edge is notoriously imperfect. It will never improve. And owners and drivers are for the most part so ignorant that they could not tell a front foot from a hind foot, or tell the differ ence between a job of shoeing that would make a horse lame in a week, and one that would cure the same lameness in even less time. And this ignorance costs the owner many a hard earned dollar. No better investment can be made than a little time spent in the study of the horse's feet, by the help of a really scientific manual. But it is better not to study any book at all than one that is unreliable.