ORIENTAL SHOE AND SHOES WITH ROPE, WOOD, ETC. INLAID. 



263 



a bearing over a large portion of the sole and is not bedded on 

 the wall alone. The nail holes not being countersunk, the 

 shoe being thin and the nails not fitting with absolute accuracy, 

 a certain degree of expansion is possible. Whether the excel- 

 lence of Arab horses' feet be due to Oriental shoeing is largely 

 open to question, but the method at least teaches one useful 

 lesson, viz., the ability of the sole to bear weight and, under 

 favourable circumstances, the positive advantage of imposing 

 weight upon it. 



12. SPECIAL aROOVED SHOES WITH ROPE 



INLAID. 



These shoes are of cast Bessemer steel, and present on the 

 ground surface a broad deep channel filled with a piece of 

 tarred rope (fig. 264); the hoof surface resembles that of an 



Fig. 2W. 



ordinary seated shoe. The rope is removed before fitting and 

 replaced after the shoe has been nailed on. The advantages of 

 these shoes are their lightness and their power of diminishing 

 slipping on stone, wood, and asphalt pavements ; they do not 

 prevent falls, however, in wintry weather. To some extent they 

 diminish shock. 



Owing to their method of manufacture they will not bear 

 heating to a high temperature, nor much alteration in shape, 

 and therefore are only of value for sound, well- formed feet. 



