720 SHOEING. 



method of shoemg approaches nearest to the law of nature, such is 

 likely to be the most perfect method.* * * 



"The superfices of the foot around the outside, now made plane 

 and smooth, the shoe is to be made quite flat, of an equal thickness 

 all around the outside, and open and most narrow backward at the 

 extremities of the heels, for the generality of horses, those Avhose 

 frogs arc diseased, either from natural or incidental causes require 

 the shoe to be Avider backwards; and to prevent this flat shoe from 

 pressing on the sole of the horse, the outer part thereof is to be 

 made thickest, and the inside gradually thinner. In such a shoe 

 the frog is permitted to touch the ground, the necessity of which 

 has already been seen. Add to this, the horse stands more firml}' 

 upon the ground, having the same points of support as in a natural 

 state." 



" Make the shoes as light as you can according to the size of 

 your horse, because heavy shoes spoil the back sinews and Aveary 

 the horse; and if he happen to overreach, the shoes, being heavj^, 

 are all the more readily pulled ofl:\ 



" Those Avho think it frugality to shoe Avith thick and heav}' 

 shoes, and seldom, are deceived, for they lose more by it than the}' 

 gain; for thereby they not only spoil the back sinews, but lose more 

 by it than if they had been light." 



It is conceded by all the best modern authorities that the 

 French author above referred to, vv^hose work was pviblished in 

 1750, was the great father of a correct system of reform in 

 in shoeing. It Avas supposed in his clay as it is in a great meas- 

 ure now, that a horse could not travel Avithout having heavy, un- 

 wieldy shoes on, and that the greatest skill was exhibited in the 

 amount of cutting and rasping done on tho feet. 



He boldly proclaimed that all this Avas injurious, and tried to 

 prove it by the most conAdncing arguments. The principles of 

 treatment, though given a hundred and thirty years ago, are just 

 as important now as they were then. He says: — 



"111 the state of nature, all the inferior parts of the foot concur 

 to sustain the av eight of the body; then avo obserA'e that the heels 

 and frogs, the jiarts said to be most exj)Osed, are never damaged 

 1)}- Avear, that the Avail or crust is alone Avorn on going on hard 

 ground, and that it is only this ])art which must l)e protected, leav- 

 ing the other jiarls lre(! and unfettered in their natural moA^e- 

 ments." 



In advising tips or thin-heeled shoes, he says:-.— 



"Thin tips extending back to the middle of the quarters, al- 

 lowing the heels to bear upon tho ground, and the Aveight to be sus- 

 tained behind and before, but particularly in the latter, because th^ 

 weight of the body falls hcjmost therg, 



