THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 267 



are rendered lame. If a strong-footed horse, with 

 narrow and contracted heels, be brought before him, 

 such meets with treatment yet more severe. The bar 

 is scooped out, the frog trimmed, and the sole drawn 

 as thin as possible, even to the quick, under pretence 

 of giving him ease, because, he says, he is hot- 

 footed, or foundered; by which treatment the horse 

 is rendered more lame than he was before." 

 Fleming, in quoting Osmer, observes, — 

 ^' This causes contraction of the hoof, and compression 

 of the parts within ; and, besides, a shoe was applied 

 thin on the outer circumference, and thick on the inner, 

 which being concave to the foot, and convex to the 

 ground, afforded but few points of support, removed the 

 frog from pressure, and caused great mischief. I pos- 

 sess some specimens of this terrible instrument of last- 

 century barbarism. It almost makes one shudder to 

 think of the fearful agony the poor horses must have 

 suffered when compelled to wear and work with it." 



Osmer concludes: "Let the shoe on every horse stand 

 wider at the points of the heels than the foot itself: 

 otherwise, as the foot grows in length, the heel of the 

 shoe in a short time gets within the heel of the horse ; 

 which pressure often breaks the crust, and produces 

 a temporary lameness, perhaps a corn. Let every kind 

 of foot be kept as short at the toe as possible (so as not 

 to affect the quick) ; for, by a long toe, the foot becomes 

 thin and weak, the heels low, and the flexor tendons 

 of the leg are strained. The shortness of the toe helps, 



