THE HOKSK. 55 



his duty with more ease and pleasure to himself, and greater security to 

 his rider. 



The Bar-Shoe. — A bar-shoe is often exceedingly useful. It is the con- 

 tinuation of tlie common shoe round the heels, and by means of it the 

 pressure maybe taken off from some tender part of the foot, and thrown 

 on another which -is better able to bear it, or more widely and equally 

 diffused over the whole foot. It is principally resorted to in cases of 

 corn, the seat of which it perfectly covers — in pumiced feet, the soles 

 of which may be thus elevated above the ground and secured from 

 pressure — in sand-crack, when the pressure may be removed from the 

 fissure, and thrown on either side of it, and in thrushes, wdien the frog 

 is tender, or is become cankered, and requires to be frequently dressed, 

 and the dressing can by this means alone be retained. In these cases 

 the bar-shoe is an excellent contriv^ance, if worn only for one or two 

 shoeings, or as long as the disease requires it to be worn ; but it must 

 be left off as soon as it can be dispensed with. If it is used for the pro- 

 tection of a diseased foot, however it may be chambered and laid off 

 the frog, it will soon become flattened upon it; or if the pressure of it 

 is thrown on the frog in order to relieve the sand-crack or the corn, 

 that frog must be very strong and healthy which can long bear the 

 great and continued pressure. More mischief is often produced in the 

 frog than previously existed in the part that was relieved. It will be 

 plain that in the use of the bar-shoe for corn or sand-crack, the crust 

 and the frog should be precisely on a level ; the bar also should be the 

 widest part of the shoe, in order to afford as extended bearing as pos- 

 sible on the frog, and therefore less likely to be injurious. Bar-shoes 

 are evidently not safe in frosty weather. They are never safe when 

 much speed is required from the horse, and they are apt to be wrenched 

 off in a heavy, clayey country. 



Tips. — Tips are short shoes reaching only half round the foot, and 

 worn while the horse is at grass, in oixler to prevent the crust 

 being torn by the occasional hardness of the ground or the pawing of 

 the animal. The quarters at the same time being free, the foot dis- 

 posed to contract has a chance of expanding and regaining its natural 

 shape. 



The Expanding Shoe.— Our subject would not be complete if we did 

 not describe the supposed expanding shoe, although it is now almost en- 

 tirely out of use. It is either seated or concave like the common shoe, 

 with a joint at the toe, by which the natural expansion of the foot is 

 said to be permitted, and the injurious consequences of shoeing pre- 

 vented. There is, however, this radical defect in the jointed shoe, that 

 the nails occupy the same situation as in the common shoe, and prevent 

 as they do the gradual expansion of the sides and quarters, and allow 

 only of the hinge-like motion at the toe. It is a most imperfect accom- 

 modation of the expansion of the foot to the action of its internal parts, 

 and even this accommodation is afforded in the slightest possible degree, 

 if it is afforded at all. Either the nails fix the sides and quarters as in 

 the common shoe, and then the joint at the toe is useless; or if that 

 joint merely opens like a hinge, the nail-holes near the toe can no 

 ]• nger correspond with those in the quarters, which are unequally ex- 



