562 THE HORSE. 
Now the toe is not the faulty part in contraction, but the curve takes 
place at the back of the quarters, and moreover, the toe being guarded by 
the thickest part of the horn in front, and strengthened by the angle 
which the sole makes with it, cannot possibly expand or contract in the 
way which must be accomplished to carry out the object of the hinged 
shoe. The plan is therefore abandoned as practically useless, and theo- 
retically founded on fallacious principles. 
5, TURNER’S UNILATERAL SHOE. ‘This name is not very descriptive of 
the plan which Mr. Turner, the well-known Veterinary Surgeon of Regent 
Street, introduced into notice some years ago. It is not a one-sided shoe, 
but a shoe nailed only on the outside quarter and toe. Two clips are 
used, one at the toe and the other at the back of the outside quarter. He 
also reduces the thickness of the heel by filing away the ground surface, 
leaving a shoulder about three-quarters of an inch from the extreme 
point, and thus his shoe is nearly exactly similar in principle to the French 
plan, excepting in not continuing the curve to the toe. Mr. Turner con- 
siders that this prevents any pressure being made at the seat of corn ; but 
he forgets that iron is of a most unyielding nature, and that a blow given 
to the middle of the shoe is distributed equally over the whole of the 
under surface of the foot, and is not confined to that part only immediately 
above it. I believe that his plan is more likely to produce corns than to 
prevent them, as by reducing the shoe up to a shoulder it is more likely 
to bend there, and then permanent pressure would be made on the heel, 
which would be far more likely to produce a corn than occasional blows. 
As far as the mode of nailing on the outside only is concerned, I believe 
it also is liable to objection, inasmuch as while it entirely frees the inside 
half of the foot, it sacrifices the outside in a terrible manner. _It is quite 
true that the inner heel is weaker than the outer, but a contracted foot is 
affected on both sides of the frog, and thus there is more mischief done to 
the outer heel than good to theinner. The principle of avoiding confine- 
ment of the heel by nailing is good, but the practice of sacrificing the 
outer one to the inner is not to be recommended, where it is possible to 
avoid injury to either. As I before remarked, contraction takes place in 
the back part of the foot and not at the toe, and a nail driven considerably 
in front of the middle of the quarter has no prejudicial effect in confining 
the heel. 
6. THE MALF-MOON SHOE was strongly recommended by Professor 
Coleman, in the belief that unless the frog touches the ground it is impos- 
sible to keep up a due secretion of the parts which depend upon that 
organ for their proper size and situation. His shoe was flat towards the 
foot, and concave like the hunting shoe (fig. 3) on the ground side of the 
cole, and would allow of sufficient paring out to give space between the 
two. If this could not be done, the usual kind of concave seating 
(fig. 2) was adopted. The toe was made of the usual thickness, the web 
becoming gradually thinner till it was reduced to one-third, at the back 
of the quarter, where it ended. In preparing the foot the toe was 
‘owered considerably, so as to make up for the difference in the thickness 
of the shoe, and thus take off the extra jar which would otherwise be 
thrown upon it, and the additional strain on the flexor tendons and sus- 
pensory ligament. Mr. Coleman did not expect that any unsound foot 
could bear this shoe, nor that it could be used on any horse whose heels 
had long been protected by iron, without a considerable preparation by 
gradual work, but he thought that if adopted from the first the frog and 
heels would bear the friction of our roads without suffering, and if so, 
