266 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



flat^ of an equal thickness all round the outside, and 

 open and most narrow backwards, at the extremities 

 of the heels, for the generality of horses. Those 

 whose frogs are diseased, either from natural or inci- 

 dental causes, require the shoe to be wider backwards ; 

 and, to prevent this flat shoe from pressing on the sole 

 of the horse, the outer part thereof is to be made 

 thickest, and the inside gradually thinner. In such a 

 shoe the frog is admitted to touch the ground, the 

 necessity of which has been already shown : add to 

 this, the horse stands more firmly on the ground, 

 having the same points of support as in a natural state. 

 Here, now, is a plain, easy method, agreeable to common 

 sense and reason, conformable to the anatomical struc- 

 ture of the parts, and therefore to the design of Nature, 

 — a method so plain, that one would think nobody 

 could ever swerve from it, or commit any mistake in 

 an art where nothing is required but to make smooth 

 the^ surface of the foot, to know what loss of crust 

 each kind of foot will bear with advantage to itself, 

 and to nail thereon a piece of iron adapted to the 

 natural tread of the horse ; the design, good, or use 

 of the iron being only to defend the crust from break- 

 ing, — the sole luantinrj no defence^ if never imred. . . . 



" The modern artist uses little dilTerence in the treat- 

 ment of any kind of foot, but, with" a strong arm and 

 a sharp weapon, carries all before him, and will take 

 more from a weak-footed horse at one paring than 

 Nature can furnish again in some months, whereby such 



