148 HOESE-SHOEINa. 



The lower border of the wall is, as we hare mentioned, the part 

 most deeph concerned in resisting wear and strain in the unshod 

 state, as on it the stress chiefly fails ; it is, consequently, the portion 

 of the hoof that suffers most severely from undue wear, and that 

 which alone requires protection. 



This fact must have been brought prominently before the primitive 

 shoers thousands of years ago, as the earliest specimens of shoes yet 

 discovered are narrow, and in width do not much exceed the thickness 

 of the wall. To guarantee this from wear was to increase the value 

 of the horse a thousandfold, and the simply- wrought, narrow rim of 

 iron, boldly and securely attached to the hoof by a few rudely-shaped 

 nails, was sufficient for the purpose. 



But having fastened on this light metallic armature, and allowed it 

 to remain fixed to the hoof for a lengthened period, it would soon be 

 discovered that the balance between growth and wear was again dis- 

 turbed, but this time in favor of growth ; for the wall being removed 

 from contact with the ground, and the rate of growth continuing as 

 in the unshod state, the hoof, instead of becoming diminished as 

 before, now became abnormally overgrown and caused inconvenience. 

 Then the shoe required to be taken off, and the superfluous growth 

 either removed by instruments and the shoe replaced, or the animal 

 made to travel without the iron defence until it was again needed 

 when the hoof had become too much worn. 



Such was horse-shoeing, in all probability, in early times, and such 

 it is at the present day where utility is not sacrificed to stupid 

 theories or foolish practices. 



The evils attending the usual methods of shoeing are, as has 

 been said, very serious and glaring; and the chief of these do not 

 so much depend upon the faulty conformation of the shoe — though 

 this is, in the majority of cases, not to be exempted from blame — 



