The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

In the Stable, Field, and on the hood. 123
the men and their employers, and you will find that the
principal recommendation of half their men is that they
were farriers in our army, and being so, must understand
their business. From these large shops emanate from
time to time libels upon their brother Vulcans, the
country shoeing-smiths, who are held up to ridicule by
the gentlemen of large shops in town, where they are
under the hallowed protection of having served in the
army, and their employers have tacked to their names
M.R.C.V.S., which may be literally read, " makers of
rough, coarse, vexatious shoes." The writer's experience
has led him to the conclusion that if you wanted your
horses well shod, and thought of taking them to these
large shops, and asked his advice upon them, he would
give you the same advice that Punch gave to the young
man about getting married, " Don't." As a general rule,
these large firms turn out the worst work ; they do not
take time enough to fit the shoes, but cut and rasp the
foot to fit the shoe. In justice to the village smith, he,
as a rule, will shoe the gentleman's horse better than at
the large shops in town. If he has my lord's or the
squire's horses to shoe, he is looked upon by the
villagers as a man of great skill, and he devotes much
time and labour to shoeing them, knowing that if they
are not shod well he will in all probability lose most of
the work in the village, as where the squire's horse goes
the farmer follows ; and, radical though it may appear,
yet the writer can positively assert that the best shoeing-
smiths he has met with in England had been in the
village smithy, and men who could not boast of a
military training, but brought sound common sense to
bear upon their work.