THE UNILATERAL, OR ONE SIDE NAILED SHOE. 435 



of tho widtli of tlie crust, and designed to support the crust, for by it tlie 

 whole weight of the horse is sustained. 



Towards the heel this flattened part is wider and occupies the whole 

 breadth of the web, in order to support the heel of the crust, and its 

 reflected part — the bar : thus, while it defends the horn included within 

 this angle from injury, it gives that equal pressure upon the bar and the 

 crust, which is the best preventive agaiast corns, and a powerful obstacle 

 to conti-action. 



It is fastened to the foot by nine nails — five on the outside, and four on 

 the inner side of the shoe ; those on the outside extending a little farther 

 do^vn towards the heel, because the outside heel is thicker and stronger, 

 and there is more nail -hold ; the last nail on the inner quarter being farther 

 from the heel on account of the weakness of that quarter. For feet not too 

 large, and where moderate work only is required from the horse, four nails 

 on the outside, and three on the inside, will be suflicient ; and the last nail 

 being far from tho heels, will allow more expansion there. 



The inside part of the web is bevelled oS", or rendered concave, that it 

 may not press upon the sole. ISTotwithstanding our iron fetter, the sole 

 does, although to a very inconsiderable extent, descend when the foot of 

 the horse is put on the ground. It is unable to bear constant or even 

 occasional pressui'e, and if it came in contact with the shoe, the sensitive sole 

 between it and the cofiin-bone would be bruised, and lameness would 

 ensue. Many of our horses, from too early and undue w^ork, have the 

 natural concave sole flattened, and the disposition to descend and the 

 degree of descent are thereby increased. The concave shoe prevents, even 

 in this case, the possibility of much injury, because the sole can never 

 descend in the degree in which the shoe is or may be bevelled. A shoe 

 bevelled still farther is necessary to protect the projecting or pumiced foot. 



THE UNILATERAL, OR ONE SIDE NAILED SHOE. 



For a material improvement in the art of shoeing, -we are indebted to 

 Mr. Turner of Regent Street. What was the state of the foot of the horse 

 a few years ago ? An tmyielding iron hoof was attached to it by four 

 nails in each quarter, and the consequence was, that in nine cases out of 

 ten, the foot underwent a very considerable alteration in its form and in its 

 usefulness. Before it had attained its full development — before the 

 animal was five years old, there was, in a great many cases, an evident 

 contraction of the hoof. There was an alteration in the manner of going. 

 The step was shortened, the sole was hollowed, the frog was diseased, the 

 general elasticity of the foot was destroyed — there was a disorganisation 

 of the whole homy cavity, and the value of the horse Avas materially 

 diminished. What was the grand cause of this ? It was the restraint of 

 the shoe. The firm attachment of it to the foot by nails in each quarter, 

 and the consequent strain to which the quarters and every part of the 

 foot were exposed, produced a necessary tendency to contraction, from 

 which sprang almost all the maladies to wliich the foot of the horse is 

 subject. 



The unilateral shoe has tliis great advantage : it is identified with the 

 grand principle of the expansibility of the horse's foot, and of removing or 

 preventing the worst ailments to which the foot of the horse is liable. It 

 can be truly stated of this shoe, that while it afibrds to the whole organ an 

 ii'on defence equal to the common shoe, it permits, what the common shoe 

 never did or can do, the perfect Hberty of the foot. 



We are enabled to present our readers with the last improvement of the 

 unilateral shoe. 



