490 CHAPTER 64. 



interfere with the natural bearing of the weight on the foot or with the 

 natural tread of the animal. Any artificial interference with the na- 

 tural distribution of weight and wear over the surface of the foot, such as 

 that produced by the straight shoe in ordinary use, must induce many 

 evils, much inconvenience to the animal, and, in some cases, disease. 



994. Form of the toe of the Fore- shoe. 



If it be desired to maintain in the shod horse the natural and really 

 level bearing and tread of the foot, it will be necessary to turn up the toe 

 of the shoe in the same manner as the toe of the unshod foot would be 

 naturally worn away and turned up by friction with the ground. 



The reader will probably ask at this point how much should be taken 

 off the toe of the foot in order to represent the effect of natural wear. 

 The answer is simple. As much as is necessary in each case to give the 

 horse a level bearing on his foot and a natural tread, or, in other words, 

 as much as is necessary to make the wear nearly even all over the shoe. 

 The wear is never completely even all over the shoe, because, when 

 horses are shod according to the natural formation of the foot, the 

 greatest weight will fall on the quarters, which are the broadest part of 

 the foot, and are therefore most capable of sustaining weight ; here also 

 will be the greatest wear. 



Most persons must have noticed how badly many horses go when 

 newly shod, and how apt they are to stumble, and that it is not until the 

 shoes have been worn some days that they seem again to go at their ease. 

 The reason of this is simple enough. The horse has neither ease, com- 

 fort, nor safety in travelling, until by friction with the ground he has 

 worn off some portion of the projecting toe of the straight shoe. But 

 the relief gained by wearing away the toe of the shoe is only comparative, 

 and is very inferior to that gained by the use of turned-up shoes, adjusted 

 to fit the crust, previously shortened and lowered to represent the 

 natural rounding off of the toe by wear in the unshod horse. 



The evils occasioned by the ordinary straight shoe may be summed up 

 briefly as follows : 1st, stumbling and inconvenience to the horse in 

 action ; 2nd, a tendency to contraction of the heels and shrivelling up of 

 the frog from absence of a due and natural proportion of wear at the back 

 part of the foot ; 3rd, loss of speed from resistance of the toe against the 

 ground ; 4th, undue strain on the flexor tendons, whose office is to raise 

 and flex the leg; 5th, undue stress on the suspensory ligament. In 

 action when the foot is brought to the ground, a great portion of the 

 weight falls on this ligament. 



Straight toes have a tendency to produce these results, but they do not 

 produce them to the extent which might be expected, because the animal 

 frame has been so beautifully and aptly constituted by nature that it will 

 stand a good deal of mismanagement without, for a time at least, sustain- 

 ing perceptible injury. 



Many objections have been raised to the turned-up shoes now recom- 

 mended. Among the most prominent are 1st. That the horse when 

 so shod cannot get a fair, level, and natural bearing on the ground with 



