^38 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



by inexperience, and the incorrect views of Coleman ap- 

 pear to have tainted his teaching, as they damaged his 

 practice. The reason that the horse's sole was hollow, 

 was because it descended or yielded with the weight of 

 the animal. ' Then if the sole be naturally hollow, and 

 holloiu because it must descend, the smith must not inter- 

 fere with this important action. When the foot will bear 

 it, Jie 7nust pare out sufficient of the horn to preserve the 

 proper concavity, a small portion at the toe and near the 

 crust, and cutting deeper towards the centre ; and he must 

 put on a shoe, which shall not prevent the descent of the 

 sole ; which not only shall not press upon it, but shall 

 leave sifficient room between it and the sole to admit of this 

 descent. If the sole is pressed upon by the coffin-bone, 

 by the lengthening of the elastic leaves, and the shoe will 

 not permit its descent, the sensible part between the coffin- 

 bone and the horn will necessarily be bruised, and inflam- 

 mation and lameness will ensue. It is from this cause 

 that, if a stone insinuates itself between the shoe and the 

 sole, it produces so much lameness.' 



The principles of shoeing enunciated by Mr Youatt 

 were entirely founded on the supposed elastic properties of 

 certain parts of the foot — expansion at the quarters, flat- 

 tening of the frog laterally, and descent of the sole. Grave 

 errors certainly, resulting from imperfect study or mal-ap- 

 preciation of the anatomy and physiology of the foot ; and 

 which were simply destruction to that organ, when these 

 principles were applied to it. 



The defence recommended was the 'seated' shoe of 

 Osmer and Moorcroft, which was a vast improvement on 

 that still in use, it appears. ' The ground surface of the 



