ADVANTAGES OF NOT PARING. 487 



necessary to preserve the soles, may travel without shoes ; 

 and without going for an example to the Arabs, Tartars, 

 etc., we will find it among our own horses, which, in the 

 country, work every day without requiring shoes ; but as 

 soon as our wisdom and skill is brought to bear in hollow- 

 ing out the foot to the quick and making a fine, equal, 

 and symmetrical frog— doing it well and properly, as 

 we say in France, shoes become indispensably neces- 

 sary, 



' I therefore ask all amateur horsemen to insure their 

 horses as much as they can against this pretended perfec- 

 tion. It may be asked, what will become of the horny 

 sole if it is never pared, and it may be feared that by its 

 growth the foot will become overgrown. Not at all ; for 

 in proportion to its growth it dries, becomes flaky, and 

 falls off in layers. 



'The compressions so dangerous, which cause inflam- 

 mation, would no more be dreaded if we left the horn of 

 the sole, the bars, and the frog entire. By their pliability, 

 thickness, flexibility, texture, and the situation they oc- 

 cupy, they appear to be solely destined by nature to serve 

 as a defence to the vascular sole, as the frog particularly 

 acts as a cushion to the tendo achillis — all being disposed 

 to obviate shock on paved roads, or injury from a stone, 

 splinter, etc. 



' It is necessary to be convinced of another fact : this 

 is, that it is rare that a horse goes at his ease, and is not 

 promptly fatigued, if the frog does not touch the ground. 

 As it is the only point of support, if you raise it from the 

 ground by paring it, there arises an inordinate extension 

 of the tendon, caused by the pushing of the coronary 



