ESSAY ON SHOEING HOESES. 127 



the muscles and tendons being inserted into tlie bones, it follows that 

 the toe and outside border of the hoof or shoe (provided the latter 

 is concave next the ground) become the fixed points of the leverage ; 

 any deviation from this simple mechanical contrivance operates much 

 against the animaPs powers of hauling. 



Therefore I contend that the ground surface of the shoe should be 

 concave, or saucer shape ; the outer rim or edge being prominent, 

 takes the place of the outside edge of the unshod foot, and the sur- 

 face next the ground being concave, it corresponds to the natural 

 concavity of the hoof. 



Unfortunately for the poor horse, very few persons who preside at 

 the forge, take the above view of the case ; hence, if wc take up a 

 horse's foot and examine the shoe, we shall often find that the shoe 

 is wrong side up, viz., the convex surface is next the ground; and 

 any person acquainted with the facts in the case, and having the 

 least sympathy for the poor horse, cannot do otherwise than deplore 

 this very faulty method of shoeing. 



When Surgeon Percival first entered the British army, the above 

 faulty method was universally practiced ; he immediately ordered 

 the shoes to be reversed — turned upside down — and the cavalry 

 horses were much benefited by this impi-ovement, for it prevented 

 an unnecessary waste of muscular power. 



It therefore matters not what may be the form of the foot, whether 

 it be high or low heeled, contracted at the heels, lengthened or short- 

 ened at the toe, or having a concave or convex sole ; the shoe must, 

 or ought to be, concave on the ground surface. In other parts of 

 the shoe, deviations from the general rule are absolute in conse- 

 quence of the ever-varying form and action of the foot under the 

 states of health, disease, and malformation ; and in concluding this 

 part of my subject, I remark that in the concave ground surface of 

 the feet of quadrupeds, and even bipeds, we are presented with a 

 pattern for the ground surface of shoes, requiring no improvement, 

 and if we were to follow this pattern more closely, there would be 

 fewer accidents from falling, and a less number of unnecessarily lame 

 horses. 



The next evil prevalent in a faulty method of shoeing, is that of 

 paring the foot, so as to produce unnecessary length of hoof at the 

 toe. These long toes are a mechanical disadvantage to the horse : 

 he cannot raise the limb and foot, evenly, upAvard and forward ; 

 hence, describes a sort of curve, and in so doing often strikes the 

 opposite fetlock, and thus, as the saying is, " interferes." 



Long toes also tend to produce strain, or sprain of the flexor ten- 

 dons and other parts, and soon the knee bulges out in front on a line 

 with the lengthened toe ; then the flexor tendons either shorten, or 

 the annular ligament, at the back part of the knee, contracts, and 

 then we have a genuine case of " sprung knee," an unnecessary 

 disease, a permanent eye-sore, and the animal is ever afterwards 

 unsound ; unless, by the operation of tendinotomy, and the feet being 

 put into a proper shape by a sensible shoeing smith, the animal is able 

 to perform ordinary horse labor; or, in other words, is able to per- 

 form the " ordinary duties of an ordinary horse." Dr. Cuming, a 

 very experienced man in the art of shoemg horses, thus discourses 

 on the evils of lengthy toes : 



