74 



HORSES AND ROADS. 



from a ' scoop-toed rolling-motion shoe,' if there be 

 anything in a name — which is to be doubted in this 

 case at least. Another, the ' centennial ' shoe, is 

 described as follows : ' This shoe is made of steel, 

 and is well concaved on the ground surface. The 

 bars are made so as to fit upon the bars of the foot, 

 and bear weight as the unshod hoof does in a state 

 of nature, preventing bruises in the heels and quarter 

 cracks. I have tested this shoe on horses that were 

 quite sore and lame, the shoe being made of cast 

 steel, the bars being sprung down from the heel to 

 their points on the ground surface about one half- 

 inch ; this will soften and mellow the jar. The shoe, 

 being well tempered, will allow the bars to spring 

 with the horse's weight, and will be found one of 

 the best devices possible to soften and relieve the 

 effects of concussion when the horse is tender of 

 foot, as well as to quicken the action in trotting, 

 leaving the frog free and unimpeded to perform 

 its important functions of cushioning the foot and 

 shielding the sensitive parts from injury.' 



It is, perhaps, scarcely fair to condemn by theory 

 a shoe which one has not experimented upon ; but 

 if a small stone were to get jammed between the 

 spring and the horse's heel, would not the horse be 

 as effectually ' beaned ' as if an English coper had 

 done it for him ? What a contrast we find between 

 the result of forty years' research (as stated in the 

 preface) of a farrier, and that arrived at by another 

 American, Mr. Bowditch, a practical farmer, who 

 found ' four inches of iron curled round the toe ' to 



