xvi. PREFACE. 



it correctly and efficiently calls for gi'eat care, and some 

 personal inconvenience, arising out of the difficulty of seeing, 

 that the point of the pencil is quite perpendicular to the 

 Ijoard, and in close contact with the edge of the hoof through- 

 out its whole course, which can only be effected by the operator 

 jDlacing himself upon his back upon the gi'ound with his head 

 fairly under the foot, that is held up. There is no difficulty 

 attending the drawing of the foot, when it is on the ground ; 

 it only requires, that the other board shall be placed under 

 it, and the foot of the opposite side taken up ; when the 

 operator by merely going down on his knees can readily 

 command a view of the point of his pencil all round the foot. 

 I have repeated the experiment with the utmost care this 

 morning ; and wishing to be particularly accurate, I chose 

 for my subject not the best footed, but the least fidgety 

 horse, I possess : I have other horses that woidd have shown 

 a larger amount of expansion ; but it woidd not have been 

 altogether prudent to have trusted my head so long imme- 

 diately under the held up foot of either of them : I have 

 however frequently tried them all, but not perhaps with the 

 same deliberate attention to the point of the pencil, which T 

 bestowed upon it in this instance. The result may be taken, 

 as somewhat under the average of expansion in the feet of 

 horses that have been for some years properly treated in 

 the matters of shoeing, stabling, and exercise. 



