SHOEING. 



Ill 



designated "a slipper shoe;" and the appearance of such a protection, 

 when fixed upon the foot of a heavy horse, is presented below. 



The principal peculiarity in this shoe is the long strip of metal which 

 rises above the upper surface and conceals about three-quarters of an 

 inch of the toe. This is not an enlarged kind of clip, but a hollow re- 

 ceptacle, which projects above the shoe and covers part of the hoof 

 The use will be best understood when stated that it confers the name — 

 the slipper shoe. The toe is sheltered within the shallow cavity, and its 

 purpose is to afford the stay which the clip imperfectly provides at the 

 expense of the horn's destruction. When the fore portion of the foot is 

 being dug into the eai*th, this provision, while it allows the hoof to be 

 employed in its integrity, will prevent all the stress being transferred to 

 the nails, and thus hinder the clinches being loosened. 



THE FOOT OP A HEAVY ANIMAL, 'WITH THE SUPPER SHOE FIXED ON IX. 



Thif shoe has no web. It consists of a piece of iron the breadth of 

 ■which is merely sufficient to afford a secure lodgment for the crust. The 

 thing possesses true calkins, but their existence does not interfere with 

 the level of the upper surface on which the foot rests. The shoe is 

 forged of one thickness from toe to heel; and a portion of metal under 

 each quarter being removed, leaves the calkin, which thus only serves to 

 maintain the evenness of the bearing. A slipper shoe, adapted for a 

 lighter kind of animal than was supposed in the above illustration, and 

 not fixed on the foot, is presented on the next page. 



It may possibly be urged that in thus forming the calkin, the author 



