AND SURGERY. 229 



lifhed mode of pra6lice, and various courfes of 

 leftures of that very able veterinarian the firft 

 profeflbr, Saint Bel. 



I am here induced to retouch the fubjeft of 

 SHOEING, from various motives. To begin 

 with Mr. Taplin's famous plates of pattern 

 fhoes, " which are to improve the art to the 

 " unerring ftandard of eafe and fafety," they 

 are no other, neither better nor worfe, than the 

 common {hoes of the fuperior kind of farriers, 

 of which I made mention in the Chapter on 

 Shoeing ; they are inclining to the convex 

 externally, and fo flrong at heel, that the 

 horfe can Ihave no bearing on his frogs ; in 

 fine, precifely the flioe of Snape and Bevan 

 twenty years ago. But enough has been al- 

 ready faid of this gentleman's boafted origi- 

 nality. As to the length of the flioe in ufe 

 at the College, about which Mr. Taplin def- 

 cants fo knowingly, it is in truth, (and ordina- 

 rily has been, I believe) governed by the fame 

 ftandard as his own, the length of the foot. 

 Can any one in his right fenfes doubt the ad- 

 vantages, in point of fecurity, both to rider and 

 horfe, of the latter treading upon a flat furface, 

 and refting upon an additional point of fupport . 

 in the frog ? 



Could a horfe read, it would make him 

 laugh to perufe Taplin's dapper defcription of 

 his pattern flioes, celebrated as k is with words 



of 



