24 TEEATISE ON HORSE-SHOEING. 



it. But I think I shall prove to you that this kind 

 of shoGj instead of being a benefit to the horse^ is a 

 positive evil to him: it interferes with his action^ 

 and exposes his sole and frog to serious injury 

 from stones in the road, and the projecting por- 

 tions of the shoe become ledges for stiff ground to 

 cling to and pull the shoe off. More shoes are 

 lost through these mischievous projections at the 

 heels than from all other causes put together. 



Let us see how it is that these projecting heels 

 interfere with the horse's action. It is not neces- 

 sary for this purpose to trouble you with the 

 anatomy of the foot, but merely to state that all 

 its parts are joined to each other in such a man- 

 ner as to form one great spring, and that the foot 

 is joined to the leg by the pastern and coronet 

 bones in a direction slanting forward, which brings 

 the foot a little in advance of the leg, and places 

 the heels in front of a line dropped from the centre 

 of the fetlock joint to the ground. 



Plate VIII., Fig. 3. — 1. The shank or canon bone. 

 2. The pastern bone. 3. The coronet bone. 4. The 



