10/26/2026
"...a humble art ; for the simple reason that it affords us a glimpse, or rather a faint idea, of an obscure occupation, a modest handicraft, increasing a hundred-fold the value of the horse, and testifies to what an apparently insignificant operation very much of our immense progress in civilization has depended. I refer to the art of shoeing, by which, in arming that portion of the horse's hoof coming in contact with the ground, and sustaining the whole weight, while it receives the full force of the propelling power, would (in our northern climate, at least) under the strain of load bearing or draught, soon be destroyed, and the animal rendered useless, injury is not only averted, but the utility and power of the horse are largely increased."
- G. Fleming in Horse-shoes and horse-shoeing: their history, origin, uses, and abuses. 1869.
