28 THE borse's foot, 



experiment as cauld have been selected, being twenty jesna 

 old, with large, flat, brittle feet, and high action. He is^ 

 moreover, of a nervous temperament, and occasionally knocks 

 his feet about very much : I have, nevertheless, continued to 

 shoe him in leatlier during the nine niontbs which have 

 elapsed since the publication of the foregoing, and the result 

 has shown the plan to have been eminently successful : the 

 character of the horn has changed from brittle and shaky tc 

 firm and tough, and affords secure nail-hold in every part» 

 His shoes, which were removed three weeks ago, are now en- 

 tirely worn out, and I thought it might prove interesting ta 

 those who, like myself, wish to know how little will retain a 

 shoe, when it has been once accurately fitted to the foot, if I 

 recorded the particialars o>f the examination which I made of 

 them this morning. 1 found them securely held to the feet^ 

 and the clinches unmoved :— not one of the five nails, which 

 constituted the only fastening of either of the fore shoes, had 

 penetrated quite an inch up the crust, befare it was brought 

 out and clinched down ; and the last on the inside, which 

 was five inches and three-quarters from the heel, barely ex- 

 tended three-quarters of an inch up the crest. Lighter fast- 

 ening than this cannot be conceived, and, I take it, could only 

 succeed, where the horn has become solid, and the shoe has 

 been fitted with great care. The sip.allest uneven bearing of 

 the crust upon the shoe, or the least .projection of the shoe 

 beyond the hoof, at the quarters or sides of the heels, would 

 to a certainty endanger its security. 



I may here remark, that the habit of encumbering the sols 

 and frog with a thick layer of tow between them and the 

 leather, is very objectionable r it causes unnecessary heat 

 and pressure, and should for these reasons be avoided. The 

 principal object of tow is to block up the openings, through 

 which gravel and dirt would otherwise insinuate themselves 

 between the leather and the foot ; its presence should there- 

 fore be confined to the clefl of the frog, — ^the commissures, — - 

 and the angles between the heels and the bars. These parts 

 should be filled to a level with the body of the frog, so as to 

 enable them to share the pressure with it ; but none should be 

 permitted to rest upon the frog itself. The Jong straggling 

 ends should be collected together, and spread over the sole — 

 the ends of one side being made to overlap those of the other. 

 By this plan they will become fixed in the tar and grease, 

 with which the foot ought previously to have been liberally 



