./ aoon FORM or shoe. 



665 



•sli|)j)ing forward. Some time ago, I devised a shoe some- 

 thing in this form, which has been employed on the road 

 and in the hunting-field, on fore and hind feet, and with 

 most satistactory results' (fig. 207). 



Instead of the bevel on the 

 ground surface gradually be- 

 coming shallower as it ap- 

 |)roaches the heels, as in the 

 ordinary hunting-shoe, in mv 

 shoe it is rather shallow at the 

 toe (a) ; and as it passes back- 

 wards gets deeper, until, within fig. 207 

 an inch or so of the extremity of the shoe, it has cut 

 down through the tiiickness of the inner border and ab- 

 ruptly stops, leaving a sharp catch (A), that, like the inflexion 



• Though for ages it has been known that the sole, especially at its 

 margin, will sustain the pressure of the shoe, I put my own method of 

 shoeing to a practical test during the hot weather in September last. It 

 is certain that long journeys on hard roads during the summer months, 

 on horses whose feet are pared, and armed with the ordinary seated 

 shoe, is likely to cause inflammation of these organs. Starting from 

 Chatham, my wife riding an Arab horse, and myself mounted on 

 an Irisli mare, the first day we rode to St Albans, about 56 miles, and 

 in three days and a forenoon reached Alherstone, Warwickshire, a dis- 

 tance of about 1^50 miles. The horses' hoofs remained quite cool, and 

 there was not the least symptom of tenderness during the whole journey. 

 We returned to Chatham by another route a short time attcrwards, 

 travelling a distance of 200 miles in five days. At no time was the 

 temperature of the feet increased beyond the normal degree. This ex- 

 periment is only corroborative of what has been observed on ship-board 

 with horses shod in a similar manner. It certainly apjvaR'd to give 

 very different results to the journeys mentioneil in some of the authors 

 we have quoted, who speak of the poor horses lying down with painful 

 feet the moment they were put in a stable, after a journey of some 

 twenty or thirty miles. 



