526 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



any removal luith a cb-aiving-hnife, the bar-shoe may be 

 applied with advantage. 



^71. In this case the heels of the shoe should be 

 raised from the heels of the crust, and the bar rest on the 

 frog. 



' 72. The hoof being cut and the shoe applied, as 

 directed, will preserve the hoof in its circular form.' 



Keeping the sole from pressure, and allowing the frog 

 to bear the greater portion of the horse's weight, was the 

 prevailing idea with Professor Coleman. The foot was 

 distorted and mutilated to attain this object, and the most 

 curious contrivances devised to confine the bearing solely 

 to the toe of the foot and the frog. With regard to these 

 principles of shoeing he was particularly dogmatic. ' There 

 are only two principles to govern the practice of shoeing, 

 which ybr all horses in all ages and in all countries must 



be invariably folloived and which are of much 



greater moment than the shape of the shoe itself. So 

 long as nails and iron are employed to protect the hoof, 

 the crust is the part that should receive the nails and the 

 pressure of the shoe; and the sole of every horse employed 

 for every purpose is a part that should not be in contact 

 ivith the shoe. All other rules for the practice of shoeing 

 are subordinate and conditional.' Artificial frogs were 

 invented and patented to make due pressure on that part 

 of the foot, and everything was done to cause the expansion 

 of the heels ; and yet the sole was recklessly scooped away, 

 while to foisten on a half-shoe, eight nails were employed 

 (fig. 193). Though the method of shoeing with 'tips' 

 and thin-heeled shoes had been recommended by Lafosse 

 and others, these authorities are never once mentioned by 



