714 



SHOEING. 



moval of the sole between the bars and the crust. In common 

 practice these parts of the hoof are removed by an instrument 

 called the buttress. 



" < The removal of a proper quantity of horny sole has been 

 represented to be a delicate operation, and in the hands of common 

 smiths, liable to do mischief. But any smith capable of paring a 

 hoof cannot fail to be equal to removing part of the sole with the draw- 

 ing-knife. That the practice may be faithfully executed in the 



army, a farrier from each 

 regiment of cavalry has 

 been permitted to attend 

 the college to learn the 

 practical part of shoeing.' 

 "The foregoing pas- 

 sages, abounding as they 

 do in errors, give evidence 

 of the manner in which 

 some of the greatest 

 changes in the practice of 

 horse- shoeing have occur- 

 red since its history has 

 been written, and changes 

 which have led to the 

 worst possible results. 

 Once, however, the notion 

 got possession of the 

 minds of the men at the 

 wheel, that the bottom of the foot, its arched sole, was not designed 

 to support the weight, but to yield to pressure downward ; every- 

 thing had to give way to that idea. The sole and frog were torn 

 away, and because, during the barbarous experiment, the connection 

 did not yield, and the bone protrude as a finger through a torn 

 glove, negative evidence was taken in confirmation of the theory 

 framed ; the paring away of horses' soles with the drawing-knife 

 was thus established, and the army, by sending farriers to learn 

 the new system, became the means of enforcing the absurd and 

 cruel practice of thinning the sole throughout this kingdom and 

 the colonies." 



" It is interesting to see the differently constituted mind of Mr. 

 Moorcroft on the natural bearing of the question in 1800. He 

 says : 



" ' The sole ties the lower edge of the crust together, and by its 

 upper part forming a strong arch, it affords a firm basis to the bone 

 of the foot, and by its strength it defends the sensitive parts within 

 the hoof.' 



" This is true. "We fail to discover a single passage in any work 

 or any traditional account to show that any objection was raised to 

 the continuance of the use of the buttress in England, any more 

 than over the rest of the world, where it had been adopted from 

 time immemorial, until along with his other new theories about 



FIG. 561. Side view of the previous shoe. 



