much more springy. The fact is, I don’t think we attend enough to the hind feet. They don’t show the effect of bad shoeing like the forefeet, and so they don’t get attention; but what is bad in front can’t be good behind. The mare’s heels became much more open, and no man need desire a better hack on the road.’ Not long ago a correspondent wrote that his horses were shod all round à la Charlier, yet they were quite capable of ‘backing’ a load on any ordinary road, because they stood upon their feet (although they did not quite do so). Now, ‘backing’ is the most severe work a horse can be called upon to perform; and, therefore, it seems strange that every facility should not be allowed him for its performance. No valid reason has been adduced to deter us from ‘going the whole quadruped ’—that is to say, if you persist in shoeing him at all. If you do, you should go in for Charlier tips ‘all round.’ Nothing in the shape of shoeing can touch that form; unless it is to let the hind feet go bare altogether, as they do in Massachusetts. When you reach this point you will soon throw away those in front also.
