424 



THE UNILATERAL SHOE. 



tion to descend and the degree of descent are thereby increased. The concave 

 shoe prevents, even in this case, the possibility of much injury, because the sole 

 can never descend in the degree in which the shoe is or may be bevelled. A shoe 

 bevelled still farther is necessary to protect the projecting or pumiced foot. 



THE UNILATERAL, OR ONE SIDE NAILED SHOE. 



For a material improvement in the art of shoeing, we are indebted to Mr. 

 Turner of Regent Street. What was the state of the foot of the horse a few 

 years ago ? An unyielding iron hoof was attached to it by four nails in each 

 quarter, and the consequence Avas, that in nine cases out of ten the foot under - 

 went a very considerable alteration in its form and in its usefulness. Before it 

 had attained its full development before the animal was five years old, there 

 was, in a great many cases, an evident contraction of the hoof. There was an 

 alteration in the manner of going. The step was shortened, the sole was hol- 

 lowed, the frog was diseased, the general elasticity of the foot was destroyed 

 there was a disorganization of the whole horny cavity, and the value of the 

 horse was materially diminished. What was the grand cause of this? It was 

 the restraint of the shoe. The firm attachment of it to the foot by nails in 

 each quarter, and the consequent strain to which the quarters and every 

 part of the foot were exposed, produced a necessary tendency to contraction, 

 from which sprang almost all the maladies to which the foot of the horse is 

 subject. 



The unilateral shoe has this great advantage : it is identified with the grand 

 principle of the expansibility of the horse's foot, and of removing or preventing 

 the worst ailments to which the foot of the horse is liable. It can be truly 

 stated of this shoe, that while it affords to the whole organ an iron defence 

 equal to the common shoe, it permits, what the common shoe never did or can 

 do, the perfect liberty of the foot. 



We are enabled to present our readers with the last improvement of the 

 unilateral shoe. 



The above cut gives a view of the outer side of the off or right unilateral 

 shoe. The respective situations of the five nails will bo observed ; the distance 

 of the last from the heel, and the proper situations at which they emerge from 

 the crust. The two clips will likewise be seen one in the front of the foot, 

 and the other on the side between the last and second nail. 



The second cut gives a view of the inner side of the unilateral shoe. The 



