Every horseman finds his chief difficulty in the fact that he has to protect the natural foot from the wear incident to the artificial condition in which the horse is placed in his relation to man. In those important industries where great numbers of horses are used, and the profit of the business depends upon the efficiency of the animal, the question becomes a very serious one, and the life term of the horse, or the proportion of the number of animals that are kept from their tasks by inability, make the difference between profit and loss to the great transportation lines that facilitate the busy current of city life. But notwithstanding the importance of this subject, upon the score equally of economy and humanity, the world is, for the most part, just where it was a thousand years ago, possibly worse off, for the original purpose of shoeing was only to protect the foot from attrition or chipping, and but little iron was used, but, as the utility of the operation became apparent, the smith boldly took the responsibility of altering the form of the hoof to suit his own unreasoning views, cutting away, as superfluous, the sole and bars, paring the frog to a shapely smoothness, and then nailing on a broad, heavy piece of iron, covering not only the wall but a portion of the sole also, thus putting it out of the power of the horse to take a natural, elastic step.

In a short time the hoof, unbraced by the sole and bars, begins to contract, the action of the frog upon the ground, which in the natural foot is threefold—acting as a cushion to receive the force of the blow and thus relieve the nerves and joints of the leg from concussion, opening and expanding the hoof by its upward pressure, quickening the circulation and thereby stimulating the natural secretions,—this all important part of the organization, without which there is no foot and no horse, becomes hard, dry, and useless. Then follows the whole train of natural consequences. The delicate system of joints inclosed in the hoof feel the pressure of contraction, the knees bend forward in an attempt to relieve the contracted heel. In this action the use of the leg is partially lost. The horse endeavors to secure a new bearing, interferes in movement, or stands in uneasy torture.

Nature frequently seeks relief by bursting the dry and contracted shell, in what is known as quarter or toe crack, and the miserable victim becomes practically useless at an age when his powers should be in their prime.

Every horseman will acknowledge that his experience has a parallel in the picture here presented. Many men have at various times attempted reform, but the difficulty heretofore encountered has been that the mechanical application was in the hands, not of the owners and reasoners, but in those of a class of men who are, for the most part, ignorant, prejudiced, and, consequently, apt to oppose any innovation upon the old abuses in which they have had centuries of vested right; and it was not until the studies of Mr. R. A. Goodenough that there were brought to bear veterinary knowledge, mechanical skill, and inventive faculty, to overcome the stolidity and interest which have been the lions in the way of true reform.