23 



in the road "to come and do its worst;" as though the 

 numerous ills, the foot is unavoidaljly exposed to, and which 

 110 ingenuity can avert, were not sufficiently distressing to 

 the horse, or vexatious in their consequences to its owner. 

 Seeing then that the shape of the foot is in no way 

 changed by the form of the shoe, both wisdom and interest 

 woidd prompt us to adopt that form, which possesses the 

 greatest number of advantages with the fewest disadvantages ; 

 and such a form it shall now be my endeavour to describe 

 in detail. The shoe must, as we have seen, possess substance 

 enough to prevent its bending, and width of web enough 

 to insure protection to the foot : the thickness, like the 

 width of web, should continue precisely the same from toe to 

 heel,'"" and not, as is generally the case, increase, as it pro- 

 ceeds backwards, until at the heels it becomes fuUy doubled.t 

 This is a great evil for many reasons, and among others 

 that it tlirows the horse forward upon the toe, and causes 

 him to strike it against every projection, which comes in 

 its way. Now, as horses are quite sufficiently prone to do 

 this without the assistance of high heeled shoes, it should 

 be our business to obviate it as much, as possible : and 1 

 find this best accomphshed by keeping the heels of an even 

 thickness with the rest of the shoe, and turnmg up the 

 toe out of the line of wear,J thereby imparting to the toe 

 of a new shoe, when placed upon a flat surface, the same 

 elevation from the ground luie, as that of an old one. It 

 is notorious, that all liorses travel safer and better, when 



* Plate 6, fig. 2. t Plate 6, fig. 1. + Plate 1 fig. 2. 



