PREVENTION OF SLIPPING. 579 



'The horse thus shod, after the early days succeeding 

 its first application, when it sometimes goes less freely 

 than usual, and appears more sensitive to the asperities of 

 the ground, movies evenly, and with lightness, grace, sup- 

 pleness, and liveliness, and is more easily managed ; all his 

 paces, in a word, indicate that he finds himself more at 

 liberty than with the sub-plantar shoeing, 



' When at rest, we observe that he has nearly always 

 his four feet resting on the ground, while other horses 

 have usually a foot resting — no doubt to relieve altern- 

 ately the dull pain or fatigue they experience in the hoof; 

 neither is this so hot or feverish after journeys. 



' Like the Lafosse shoe, although much more effi- 

 ciently, it prevents slipping. During the frost of the first 

 days in January and February, I have been able to travel 

 with confidence without frost nails or calkins, when the 

 horses of others could not move unless their feet were 

 armed with these appliances so destructive to feet and 

 limbs. I one day travelled along boldly with a mare 

 whose limbs were used-up, but which was shod on my 

 system, alongside a troop of cavalry, the soldiers being 

 forced to dismount and lead their horses by the bridle. 

 In snowy weather, every horse had its feet balled and 

 walked with difficulty, while mine experienced nothing of 

 the kind, and this result has since been observed with 

 farm horses working on heavy clay land, where, during 

 damp weather, they previously had their feet laden with 

 masses of soil several inches thick, from which they could 

 only with difficulty be freed. 



' It must be an immense advantage in Paris to be able 



to prevent horses from slipping, not only during the 



31 * 



