SHOEING. 105 



vreb was so broad the horse's foot rested on a flat metallic surface) dia 

 not defend the sole, else the web would not have been sacrificed. But 

 what kind of protection does the present form actually afford ? Why, 

 its only use really appears to be that of affording a place of lodgment 

 for gravel and for pebbles, or of a medium for the generation of corns. 



Were half an inch of, crust allowed to remain, the web and all its 

 dangers might be abolished. The weight would thereby be lightened, 

 while the tenacity of wet clay would be deprived of any leverage on 

 which to act. Two primary requisites toward a good hunting shoe 

 would then be obtained. The nail openings also being brought close 

 to the inner margin, and the fastenings being driven in a direction slant- 

 ing outward, a hold would be taken of both species of horn which unites 

 to form the wall of the foot ; and the nails, being firmly clinched upon a 

 tough body in lieu of a brittle substance, would be retained with greater 

 certainty. The weight of metal required for such a shoe would be de- 

 creased, thereby materially lessening the labor of the horse ; while if 

 the nails pierced the toe of the crust, a firmer hold would be obtained, 

 and the quarters would be left free instead of being fettered, as is un- 

 avoidable so long as the present system of nailing is continued. Corns, 

 bruise of the sole, brittle hoof, etc. would be avoided, and the dangers 

 of the forge no longer perpetuated. Lastly, the comfort of the animal 

 being more tenderly considered, the motions of the quadruped would be 

 so much the easier, and the more pleasant — man's real interest being 

 best consulted by strict attention to the happiness of all the lives which 

 serve him, as every form of existence succumbs to protracted suffering. 



The reader, however, may liave experienced the de'ception which com- 

 monly attends every novelty in horse shoes. Therefore he may think, 

 when the author proposes a return to an old, a 

 barbarous, and an exploded form of fastening 

 on the horse's shoe, he simply aims at trying 

 an experiment with the living property of other 

 people. The writer does not propose to con- 

 tend against suspicions; but he produces the 

 plan which he advocates, and contrasts it with 

 the ordinary method of nailing; when, having 

 placed the evidence before his judges, he leaves '^^ authoe's proposed mode 



^ J D t OP NAILING. 



them to decide on the merits of the adverse 



modes, as regards their likelihood to perform the offices of retaining a 



ling of iron with safety and with advantage upon the foot of a horse. 



According to the above plan, the hold would be much firmer; it 

 ^ould embrace the two kinds of horn which nature ordained should 

 unite to form the wall of the hoof. The nail would pierce those tough 



