194 HORSES AND ROADS. 



forbid all carving away of the frog bars and sole, 

 and will see that the frog comes down to the ground 

 (even if it has to go over the Hertfordshire flints, 

 for which the veterinary surgeon will have no fear), 

 and then you will get frog pressure, which is already 

 something, and your horse will then be one of the 

 best shod in England, but if you will just lift up his 

 foot and examine the frog, you will see that it is semi- 

 cloven. Now, as you will hardly regard the cleft as 

 the result of a careless construction, you should 

 reason out for yourself what it is there for, and then 

 you could hardly help arriving at the conclusion 

 that it was to allow the heels to spread. Why then 

 do you lock them together with a full shoe ? You 

 have obtained some pressure and attrition for the 

 frog by abstaining from mutilation, but its third 

 necessity — expansion — you do away with altogether. 

 This has been expounded by Bracy Clark. Mayhew 

 says : — ' You cannot treat an organic body as if it 

 were an inorganic one,' but this is just what you are 

 doing when you turn a flexible foot into a rigid 

 one. Hope was also aware of this, and he recom- 

 mended that, after a journey, the two hindermost 

 nails on each side of the shoe should be drawn, to 

 give the horse relief. All kinds of dodges have 

 been proposed with the same view, but the tip is the 

 only one that has answered; so you are earnestly 

 advised to try it. You risk absolutely nothing, as 

 has been proven over and over again. Keep up its 

 use as long as you feel nervous about leaving it off ; 

 but when you determine on getting rid entirely of 



