THE ' CHARLIER ' SHOE. 55 



walk barefoot, and that the bottom of his foot was in 

 every way fitted to stand all wear and tear, except the 

 outer rim — that is, the wall or crust. He, therefore, 

 made a shoe of very narrow iron, less than the width 

 of the wall, which he let in, or imbedded, to the 

 crust, without touching the sole, even on the edge ; 

 so that, in fact, the horse stood no higher after he 

 was shod than he stood when barefooted. He m-ged 

 that such a narrow piece of iron would not interfere 

 with the natural expansion and contraction of the 

 foot ; and in this he at once went wrong, for malleable 

 iron has no spring in it. Then, in spite of his theory, 

 as he expressed it, he carried his shoe right round the 

 foot into the bars, beyond where the crust ceases to be 

 independent of them. He then got a very narrow, 

 weak shoe, about a foot in circumference (if circum- 

 ference can be applied to that which is not a com- 

 plete circle) ; and, as he ought to have foreseen, the 

 shoe then twisted or broke on violent exertion. 

 Had he restricted himself to tips only, he would 

 have had a great success from the beginning. 



* Impecuniosus ' says that another correspondent 

 of the * Field,' writing as ' Kangaroo,' very justly 

 remarks upon ' the impossibility of a horse becoming 

 footsore in the frog, sole, or heel of his foot as a 

 result of his travelling barefoot. It is the toe about 

 half way round that suffers, and this is all that 

 demands protection in the fore feet, whatever the 

 work may be and upon lohatever soil.'' Hence 

 Charlier made a mess of it when he passed the 

 dimensions of tips, or the mere protection of the 



