ON SHOEING. 115 



safe and delightful, the interior mechanism of the foot 

 is protected by one of those simple, beautiful^ mechanical 

 arrangements which in every direction demonstrate to 

 us the superintending providence of an Almighty Power. 



If the sole, front, sides, and back of a hunter's foot 

 had been created as solid and as inelastic as the gold 

 or silver case of what is called a hunting watch, the 

 interior of the former, like that of the latter, would 

 receive material damage from a heavy blow against the 

 ground. 



The coating, however, of hard horn or armour which 

 shields the front and sides of the sensitive foot from 

 any obstacle in its course, does not equally extend to 

 that portion of it in the rear, out of harm's way, called 

 the heels, beneath which we find on examination a 

 triangular cushion of an Indiarubber-like composition, 

 which, on concussion, or even by compression, acting 

 as a wedge, forces the heels that contain it, outwards. 



By this beautiful arrangement, when a hunter with 

 his front legs extended, jumping over a broad fence, 

 lands on a hard macadamised road upon his two fore- 

 feet, the heels which receive the greater portion of 

 the concussion are expanded by it in exact proportion 

 to the weight of the bodies of the horse and rider, and 

 the violence of the blow being thus alleviated, the sensi- 

 tive mechanism of the foot is shielded from injury. 



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