SHOEING. 187 



lias to be galloped over, can be so easy to the horse as the 

 foot in its natural state; but such going is the exception, 

 not the rule. It seems impossible, under the present cir- 

 cumstances of domesticated equine servitude, to do away 

 entirely with '' the unyielding iron rings," which in the case 

 of worn out shoes taken from the feet of two of Messrs. 

 Allsopp's horses weighed twenty-three pounds. When we 

 consider that every ounce added to the weight of the foot 

 necessitates a lifting power equivalent to four hundred 

 ounces at the loins, some idea may be formed of the effect 

 of the needless, holding, dragging, w^ait-a-bit clog, resulting 

 from heavy shoes. Nature intended the horse to walk, 

 trot, gallop, and jump barefoot. Lord Pembroke, who 

 wrote many years back, said, "the shoes in England at 

 present, that are contrived wath the most sense, are what 

 they call plates, for the racehorses at Newmarket. I do 

 not say they are perfect, but they are nearer the truth than 

 any others I know ; but they are not substantial enough for 

 common use, though sufficiently so for the turf" 



In the face of the great improvements lately wrought in 

 the manufacture of steel, there can be no valid reason for 

 weighting our horses of any class with heavy, clumsy shoes. 

 Some few feet, by their particular form and strength, provided 

 the sole be never pared or the frogs and bars interfered with, 

 are enabled to resist the wear and tear of our turnpike 

 roads and streets, and the harder the objects to which the 

 feet are exposed the more obdurate and flinty they become ; 

 but the plurality must needs have some wearing protection 

 to the whole or part of the wall, which is the real con- 

 tinuous weight-sustaining surface. 



The thickness of the wall varies according to the size and 

 breeding of the animal, and the treatment it has been sub- 

 jected to. It will be found thickest and strongest in the 



