THE CHARLIER SHOE. 119 



fair to credit the shoes with being in great measure the 

 cause of this undeniable fact, if only the trouble be taken 

 to consider what office the different parts of the horse^s 

 foot are by nature intended to fulfil. By the usual style 

 of shoeing it must be considered that, on hard ground, 

 all the weight of the horse is supported by the crust of 

 the hoof. A shoe which presses on the sole of the foot 

 lames the horse. Nothing but the shoe touches the 

 ground, and nothing but the wall of the foot touches the 

 shoe. This is plain enough. But we cannot suppose 

 that Providence furnished the foot of the horse with such 

 a thing as the frog merely as an ornament, devoid of any 

 use. Of what use it can be when raised off the ground 

 is a question which is likely to remain unanswered. 

 Hunters who work on soft ground have a part of their 

 weight sustained by the frog, and they are comparatively 

 free from foot lameness — only comparatively . 



Many shoes have been invented and discarded, which 

 professed to give all parts of the foot an opportunity of 

 discharging their several duties. Mr. Bracy Clark^s ex- 

 pansion shoe was to prevent contraction of the heels, 

 while Professor Coleman^s thin-heeled shoe was to allow 

 of frog pressure. The latter gentleman roundly asserted 

 that the frog "must have pressure, or be diseased j^^ but 

 his plan for bringing the frog to the ground was 

 eminently inefficient. A shoe thicker at the toe than at 

 the heels must needs produce a continual strain on the 

 tendons — an evil far worse than the want of frog pres- 

 sure. Without the latter many horses have gone sound 

 to the last day of a long life ; but all the frog pressure in 

 the world will not allow of a leg continuing sound if the 

 back sinews are constantly on the strain, both in rest 

 and motion, which must be the case when the toe is 



