106 HORSE-SHOEING. 



of pressure around its margin — particularly toward the toe — it 

 must be most carefully preserved, not only from contact with the 

 shoe, but also with the ground. This necessitates a wide surface 

 of metal, which increases the weight of the shoe, making it 

 clumsier to wear, and affords a large under or ground surface for 

 slipping. And even with a shoe of such dimensions the creature 

 cannot travel at ease on stony roads, as the least pressure of a 

 stone on the tender sole causes him to limp ; and if the stone 

 lodges in the space between shoe and sole, serious injury is 

 likely to be done. 



Weight. — In addition to the beveling and the width, the shoe in 

 ordinary use has several other glaring defects. One of these is 

 generally its excessive weight ; it contains an amount of iron far 

 greater than is necessary to protect the hoof from the effects of 

 wear. One reason alleged for the employment of these cumbrous 

 masses of iron attached to the ends of a horse's limbs is that they 

 prevent concussion to the foot. This any reasonable person will 

 at once perceive is a manifest absurdity. The hoof by its light- 

 ness, its texture, and the wonderful arrangement of its component 

 parts, is well adapted to avert concussion. An inelastic, heavy 

 lump of iron firmly attached to it, and coming into forcible 

 collision with the ground at every step, must surely be more 

 likely to increase this concussion than diminish it. 



There can be no difficulty, I imagine, in estimating the injury 

 inflicted by unnecessarily heavy shoes. Nature formed the lower 

 extremity of the limb with a view to lightness, no less than to 

 other iurportant ends. The hoof-bone is quite porous and open in 

 texture, to diminish its ponderosity without detracting from its 

 size or stability ; while the hoof itself is, as we have just noticed, 

 remarkable for the manner in which its material is arranged with 

 a special intention to confer light-footedness upon the animal. 



