128 ESSAY ON BHOEING HOESES. 



" Another evil, resulting frora the length at which the toes are 

 commonly left, is interfering. The horse, finding the long projection 

 in front of his foot as so much leverage, acting to his disadvantage, 

 gradually gfts into a habit of shifting it, by raising himself from one 

 or the other of the quai'tcrs. This is still more the case M'hen, in 

 addition to the long toe left on the hoof, a small round knob of steel 

 is set into the point of the shoe, as if in contempt of all that nature 

 teaches. With these absurd contrivances placed between his weight 

 and the ground which supports it, it is next to impossible for a horse 

 to raise himself evenly upward and forward, and hence the number 

 that one way or another interfere. If in raising his weight from the 

 ground, the pressure be upon the inside quarter of the foot, then the 

 thick part of the pastern is thrown inward, in the way of being 

 struck by the upper edge of the hoof of the other side. If the cant 

 be the other way, and the outside quarter raise the weight, the inside 

 edge of the shoe is thrown round and upward, and he runs the risk of 

 cutting with it the opposite leg. Even when the horse, from having 

 a naturally good gait, escapes both these evils, still he is not free 

 from trouble caused by this shape of shoe. 



" The fore foot of the horse, as nature makes it, has no such pro- 

 jection in front and downward, as that which the smiths here give 

 it, but rather the reverse. The sole surftxce at the toe is commonly 

 broken off and notched back at the middle, so that the pressure,' 

 when the foot strikes the ground or the animal is raising his weight, 

 is distributed over the whole front of the foot. In accordance with 

 this, the coffin bone, which fills the internal cavity of the hoof, has 

 the same turned-up and notched-back form. In England, France, 

 and on the Continent of Europe generally, wherever Veterinary 

 Schools exist, and scientific attention is given to shoeing, this natu- 

 ral form of the foot is more or less followed in the shape of the shoe, 

 and the animal has preserved to him, along with the protection from 

 wear which the shoe gives, the position of tread for which nature 

 has constructed the other mechanical arrangements of his organs of 

 motion. Why it is not so here is perhaps partially due to the use of 

 butteris for cleaning out the foot when it is shod, as it is impossible 

 with this antiquated instrument to bring the hoof to the proper shape 

 in all its parts ; but it is more due to want of study on the part of 

 those who shoe, of the structure of the foot, its uses, and the rela- 

 tion existing between it and the other motive organs, the bones, ten- 

 dons, and ligaments of the limbs. 



IN BEGAKD TO THE RULES OF SHOEINa nOESES. 



The reader is, probably, well aware that great diversity of opinion 

 exists among men regarding the be^t method of applying shoes to 

 horses' feet, yet it is my belief that the best system is that which is 

 calculated to preserve the natural function, position, and action of 

 the feet, and adopts that kind of shoe which aifords the most protec- 

 tion, yet allows the frog to come in contact with the ground on which 

 the animal stands or travels over. 



No specific rule can obtain in the general art of shoeing, for the 

 simple reason that the feet differ very much imder the conditions of 

 health and disease ; hence, a certain form of shoe well adapted to 



