664 THE HORSE 



inti'oduction of the French shoe into general use ; but I believe that it 

 would, on the whole, be far superior to our own. 



3. Mr. Goodwin has suggested an improvement on the French shoe, 

 consisting in making the heels of the shoe slightly convex towards the foot, 

 necessitating a double sweep in both surfaces. It is difficult to convey an 

 accurate idea of Mr, Goodwin's shoe without an illustration, but his object 

 is to place the heel of the crust on a sloping surface, so that when pressure 

 is made downwards, it has a tendency to expand the heels. I believe, how- 

 ever, that all attempts to effect this object by mechanical means are 

 fallacious, and that it is only by causing a due development of the frog and 

 bars through the stimulus of pressure that it can be done. I therefore see 

 no advantage in Mr. Goodwin's alteration, and should prefer the French 

 plan, pure and simple. 



4. Mr. Bracy Clark, in his great anxiety to prevent contraction, sug- 

 gested a liinge at the toe of the shoe, by which it might be allowed to 

 expand with the foot. At first sight this looks extremely simple, and likely 

 to be efficacious, but there is one objection which completely explains the 

 I'eason of its utter failure in practice. It must be nailed on firmly to both 

 quarters, and at least four nails in each will be required. If, therefore, tlio 

 heels are to expand, they must do so by a hinge or bend in the toe of the 

 foot, since the quarters are nailed to the shoe, and no yielding can possibly 

 take place between the four nails which are driven into each. Now the 

 toe is not the faulty part in contraction, but the curve takes place at the 

 back of the quarters, and moreover, the toe being guarded by the thickest 

 part of the horn in front, and strengthened by the angle which the sole 

 makes with it, cannot possibly expand or contract in the way which must 

 be accomplished to carry out the object of the hinged shoe. The plan is 

 therefore abandoned as practically useless, and theoretically founded on 

 fallacious principles. 



5. Turner's unilateral shoe. This name is not very descriptive of the 

 plan which Mr. Turner, the well-known veterinary surgeon of Regent 

 Street, introduced. It is not a one-sided shoe, but a shoe nailed only on 

 the outside quarter and toe. Fig. 122 is a feather-edge hind-shoe, with 

 somewhat similar nailing. Two clips are used, one at the toe and the 

 other at the back of the outside quarter. He also reduces the thickness of 

 the heel by filing away the ground sui'facc, leaving a shoulder about three- 

 quarters of an inch from the extreme point, and thus his shoe is nearly 

 exactly similar in principle to the French plan, excepting in not continuing 

 the curve to the toe. Mr. Turner considers that this prevents any pressure 

 being made at the seat of corn ; but he forgets that iron is of a most un- 

 yielding nature, and that a blow given to the middle of the shoe is dis- 

 tributed equally over the whole of the under surface of the foot, and is not 

 confined to that part only immediately above it. I believe that his plan 

 is more likely to produce corns than to prevent them, as by reducing the 

 shoe up to a shoulder it is more likely to bend there, and then permanent 

 pressure would be made on the heel, which would be far more likely to 

 produce a corn than occasional blows. As far as the mode of nailing on 

 the outside only is concerned, I believe it also is liable to objection, inas- 

 much as while it entirely frees the inside half of the foot, it sacrifices the 

 outside in a terrible manner. It is quite true that the inner heel is weaker 



