MISTAKES IN MILES' S METHOD. SS3 



the hoof, lay the secret of dispensing with so many nails ; 

 and this was a veritable progress in the art of farriery, for 

 which Mr Miles deserves every credit. His great error 

 lay, as we have seen, in cutting away the sole, through a 

 false idea that it descended, and in applying heavy, 

 clumsy shoes. The improvement could not make 

 amends for the mistakes. 



The hind-shoes had no calkins, properly so called, 

 but only long thick projections from the ground surface — 

 a mere elongated form of calkin. They were not side- 

 clipped at the toe for hunting ; rather a mistake, as a 

 hind-shoe secured in this way is much safer for horse and 

 rider than one with a single clip at the middle of the toe. 

 They had usually two or three nails more than the fore- 

 shoe. 



Through a defective knowledge of the anatomy of 

 the hind-foot, the shoe was nailed on in the same manner 

 as in the fore one — the inside nails being all clustered to- 

 gether near the toe on the unilateral system, to allow the 

 hoof to expand. This was undoubtedly a mistake, as 

 every farrier knows that the hind-hoof diifers from the 

 fore one in being thickest towards the heels of the crust, 

 and thinnest anteriorly, and that the least injurious and 

 most secure nailing is always found at the former part. 

 This mistake may have caused the failure of his method 

 of shoeing in Algeria.' 



The composite method of shoeing devised, or rather 

 made somewhat popular, by Mr Miles, was chiefly, as may 

 be perceived, founded on the fantastic lateral-expansion 



' Merclie. Memoire sur les Priiicipaux Systemes de Ferrure. 

 Paris, 1862. 



