328 DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



animal's body diffused over an extended surface, and not limited 

 to the wall alone, as in the common method of shoeing with a 

 seated shoe ; slipping prevented, by the rim of the concave shoe 

 and the wedge-shaped frog grasping the ground. 



This method of shoeing has been practised at the forge of the 

 College with the most beneficial results for several years, and 

 even in such a city as Edinburgh, where the streets are so steep 

 and slippery, with the great advantage that horses slip less than 

 when shod with turned-up heels. I feel quite convinced that, if 

 such a shoe were generally adopted, lameness in the feet would 

 be much more rarely met with ; but such is the prejudice, even 

 amongst those who have the opportunity of seeing the beneficial 

 results of the system, that it is almost impossible to convince 

 them that it is an improvement. One large cab proprietor says 

 — " All my lame horses go better in your narrow-heeled shoes, 

 especially my ' groggy horses ;' " but even he will not have his 

 sound horses so shod. 



As to the desirability of pressure upon the sole, my views are 

 borne out by many practical men, especially by Mr. Broad of 

 Bath, a gentleman who has studied the subject very deeply. His 

 essay upon horse-shoeing, which gained the second prize of £30, 

 given imder the auspices of the Scottish Society for the Preven- 

 tion of Cruelty to Animals, is replete with instructive matter, 

 and ought by all means to be published. 



It must, however, be borne in mind that the sole, to bear its due 

 proportion of weight, should be left unmutilated by the knife. 



To return to the subject of lameness. The diseases of the feet 

 may be arranged as follows : — 



1st. Diseases of the bones and cartilages. 



2d. Those originating in the horn-secreting structures ; and, 



Zd. Accidental injuries. 



I. — LAMENESS FROM DISEASE OF THE PYRAMIDAL PROCESS OF THE 



OS PEDIS. 



This form may exist either in a fore or a hind foot, and results 

 from blows upon the front of the coronet, or from over-extension 

 of the extensor tendon (attached to the point of the pyramid) by 

 the use of high calkins. 



