58 SHOEING. 



little difficulty, provided the smith understands his business ; 

 but in feet that are deformed, considerable skill is required, 

 and a knowledge of the anatomy of the foot is indispensable. 



The greatest evils in shoeing arise from the introduction 

 of nails ; and, notwithstanding many men of note in the 

 veterinary art have strenuously labored to obviate the mis- 

 chief, or to discover some new and better mode of fixing the 

 shoe, their efforts have not hitherto been crowned with suc- 

 cess. 



Great ignorance was displayed in the earlier methods of 

 shoeing ; the bars were totally cut away, and the frog con- 

 siderably pared down ; the shoe was badly shaped, and was 

 put on the foot red hot : the result was, what might be ex- 

 pected, — the functions of the bars and frog were destroyed, 

 and the ill-shaped shoe acting with these, contraction in its 

 worst form appeared, while the application of the hot shoe 

 dried up the moisture of the crust. 



The first who made any reformation in this method was 

 Lafosse ; he introduced the half-moon shoe. This was con- 

 sidered an improvement ; its semicircular shape seemed to be 

 more adapted to the healthy hoof, and not reaching beyond 

 the middle of the foot, the nails were placed near the toe ; 

 hitherto their situation had been nearer the heels, which pre- 

 vented a proper action of the sole and frog, thus destroying 

 the natural spring and elasticity of the foot. Bracken and 

 Bartlett made Lafosse's treatise known in England ; but his 

 method had this disadvantage, that the horses were apt to 

 slip, and the heels were worn down very fast. To Lafosse 

 succeeded William Osmer, who first prohibited the extensive 

 paring of the hoof, that had as yet been practised. The crust 

 was made smooth by rasping ; the frog and bars were only to 

 be cut when the edges were ragged ; the shoe was equally 

 thick in every part ; the surface next the ground was flat, but 

 narrower behind than before. 



Many now appeared, who introduce^ various methods of 

 shoeing and forms of shoes, all of which displayed more or 

 less ingenuity. Lord Pembroke and Mr. Bracy Clark deserve 



