27 



the shoes is the opportunity, it affords, of pariug away those 

 portions of liorn, which in a state of nature would have 

 been worn down by contact with the ground. 



The next circumstance to be considered is one of vital im- 

 portance to oiu' subject, as upon it depends the amount of 

 disturbance, that the natural functions of the foot are destined 

 to sustain fi'om the shoe, viz. the n\imber and situation of the 

 nails, wliich are to secure it to the foot ; if they l:>e numerous, 

 and placed back in the quaiiers and heels, no form of shoe, 

 be it ever so j^erfect, can save the foot from contraction, and 

 navicular disease ; if on the contrary they be few, and placed 

 in the outside quarter and toe, leaving the inside quarter and 

 heel quite fi-ee to expand, no form of shoe is so bad, that it can 

 from defective form alone produce contraction of the foot. 



Exactly twenty years ago I commenced a series of experi- 

 ments upon shoeing, with a \dew among otlier things of 

 ascertaming how feiv nails are absolutely necessary under 

 ordinary circumstances to retain a shoe securely in its place. 

 The subjects of my experiments were six horses of my own, 

 and three belonging to friends ; the nine among them re- 

 presenting very fairly the different classes of pleasure horses ; 

 not at that time including hunters, or race horses, but carriage 

 horses, ladies' horses, and roadsters ; and they also included 

 the common variations in form and texture of the generahty 

 of horses' feet. 



When my attention was first directed to the subject of 

 nailing, I was employing seven nails m each fore, and eight 

 m each hind shoe ; I then withdrew one nail from each shoe, 

 thus reducuig the number to sis in the fore, and seven in the 



