‘Aberlorna’ says that, ‘he believes no ill effects ever result from hot shoeing, except when done by ignorant men, who should be anywhere but in a shoeing forge.’ In such a forge, ten miles from his own residence, there is a man so ignorant of the nature of a horse’s foot, that he laughed at the idea of his being able to go on the roads with only tips, and was, afterwards, ‘quite surprised that he had not broken down on the way home after he was shod.’
Cold shoeing is gradually gaining in favour with practical men in spite of prize essays which condemn it. There is one passage in the said extract that the writer is unable to comment upon, because he fails to see any meaning in the assertion that ‘two surfaces are caused to correspond, friction is set up between them, and their separation not so easy.’ There may, perhaps, be some argument concealed under this verbosity. We are told that ‘language was given to man to enable him to disguise his thoughts.’
The extract given from the essay is of a very ‘groovey’ character otherwise.
The Seeley shoe, of which mention has been made, is a plain, light, machine-made shoe, without calks or clips, seated or bevelled on the ground surface, as Professor Coleman was the first to advocate. The chief advantage it possesses is that of being made of iron so ductile that the shoe can be altered in shape whilst cold. It is, in fact, meant to be always applied cold; and this is the only difference there is between it and any ordinary light
