The art of horse-shoeing / by William Hunting.

  • Hunting William, 1846-1913.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The art of horse-shoeing / by William Hunting. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    168/184 (page 160)
    when a horse has from any cause increased his pace on the track and coincidently been shod with some curious pattern of shoe the credit has been given to the shoe. When deahng with hving animals great difficulty is ex- perienced in tracing effects to causes. Horses, like men, are affected by their surroundings, and by tlioir internal arrangements. Work, food, excitement, and constitu- tional changes all affect the performances of animals, and lead to the invention of theories to account for the varia- tions. Without going so far as to assert that no shoe can be relied upon to increase or decrease the length of stride made by a horse during progression, I may say that until careful experiments demonstrate the possibility I decline to believe it. I also confess to a strong disbelief in the ability of weighted shoes to widen the action. That heavy shoes or weights on the hoof cause a horse to lift his feet higher I know is a fact, and therefore young horses may be trained by their aid to bend the knee and lift tbe foot. The position of the weight of the shoe for this purpose is immaterial and is best applied evenly over the whole shoe. I willingly grant that effects are produced by means which we adopt, but which we do not understand. If I am convinced by empirical experience that a certain thing causes a definite effect I accept the fact even if I am unable to explain it. If toe or side weigbts were found by experiments, carefully conducted, to do what they are supposed to do I should acknowledge the fact, and migbt try to find an explanation. But they do not. The facts are contradictory and the explanations ridiculous. The general acceptance of the queer-shaped shoes by the trot- ting men is no argument in their favour. Horsemen are among the most credulous of human beings, and never more prone to accept error than wlien it is accompanied by mystery. Fig. 188 shows what is fancied by some persons to be the acme of invention in toe weights. The '^^■eight can be moved down to the shoe, up to the coronet or fixed any-