AND ON SHOEING. 299 



proceeds from their being bred (as most horses of this 

 description are) in low, wet, moist situations, as in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire, than, as is often supposed, 

 from hereditary causes. 



The horn of horses' feet which are bred in such 

 swampy places, being rapidly forced in its growth by 

 the constant moisture, becomes thin and weak, and is 

 soft and elastic from its being almost constantly ex- 

 posed to wet ; so that the wall or crust of the fore-foot 

 is scarcely ever equal to support the weight of such 

 heavy draught horses when bred in such situations. 

 From this cause, the feet of many such horses expand 

 to an unreasonable size, and the soles of their feet are 

 to be seen protruding more or less. 



It is a pity that all such horses are not bred in drier 

 situations ; if they were, their feet would be good, and 

 strong in proportion to their weight and size, and they 

 could be continued more constantly than they are at 

 present at the work to which they are accustomed. 

 Their feet being strong and in good form, they could 

 be shod with much greater ease, and could wear plain 

 instead of enormously heavy bar shoes. I dislike such 

 ill-formed large footed horses, as much as coarse large 

 headed ones ; for both these defects (as they may be 

 correctly termed) are much more likely to retard than 

 to increase the speed of the horse ; nor would I breed 

 from either stallions or mares with such imperfections. 



When race-horses, hunters, or hacks, have such feet 

 as I have just described, (which I allow is not fre- 

 quently the case, more particularly with race-horses,) — 



