194 SPECIFICATION OF COLEMAN'S SHOR 



•hoe at the joint : his holes are punched so near his patent joint as to restore 

 tlie rigid immobility the patent pretends to amend. 



Coleman's patent shoe for giving pressure to the frog continues in use 

 (though ill a very limited degree), notwithstanding the demonstrability of its 

 inapplication to frogs already diseased. But, in the hands of the professct 

 himself, and any practitioner tolerably habile in his profession, I was free to 

 allow, from the very first, it might be rendered available — ^but not in ordinary 

 hands ;* with these it has failed of success — in some cases from the want of 

 an assortment adapted to the various kinds of feet ; a defect that may be 

 now remedied in some measure. 



Under these new circumstances, and seeing that Mr. Coleman's opinions 

 as to pressure, and the diseases consequent upon the absence of it, are em- 

 bodied in his specification, drawn up to obtain this patent (for the professor 

 has several), he may be allowed to speak for himself on this ever interesting 

 sul)ject. He says, " the improvement proposed in this patent is to prevent 

 contraction, and to relieve contracted feet, contracted frogs, flat soles, corns, 

 sand-cracks, thrushes, canker, and quittors, and also to prevent cutting." 



The patentee observes, that the *' fore feet of horses in their natural state 

 are nearly circular, but from the ordinary shoe worn in this country, which 

 keeps the frogs from off" the ground, the hoofs of horses with light fore-quar- 

 ters are generally found to be more or less contracted, and this in proportion 

 as the frogs are more elevated, and support little weight ;" whence the cause 

 of those diseases. To remedy this defect, and to afford the necessary expan- 

 sion to the hoof the patentee proposed the annexed forms, observing that no 

 specific form of shoe can be suited to all horses under all circumstances, and 

 to every sort of road ; it being necessary to alter the shoes of the same horse 

 at different periods. 



The construction of the professor's shoe will be seen in figures 4, 5, 6. 



Fig. 4. rig. 5. Fig. 6. 



" The bar of iron down the middle of the shoe, called the frog-bar, is made 

 broader than the frog, and welded to the shoe. This bar, when the cleft of 

 .!.« frog is diseased, is slit open in the middle." But all that I have seen in 

 o<=« are without the slit represented in the margin ; and the welding on of the 

 bar is greatly objectionable, inasmuch as the chief strain is at the junction of 

 the bar with the shoe or tip, and I have often seen the bar break off here, or 

 else draw the nails, and throw the patent shoe altogether. 



Of preparing the hoof. — The general principb of all shoeing is to support 

 the foot off the ground by means of the wall or crust, so that the frog shall not 

 eome in contact with the hard plain road, whilst it may be allowed to receive 

 |»ressure from soft ground : the first prevents injuries and resists wear and tear, 



•The »Qlnieci received lengthened notice, in tlie Annals of Sporting, for April, A822, y 246. 



