496 FRENCH IMPROVED SHOE AND FULLER. [BK. III. 



reconcile with propriety : what is more against the 

 French, they take little heed of hardening either 

 toe or heel. An adjusting curve upwards, which 

 they give to the toe, could add nothing to the se- 

 curity of a horse's going along safe on our roads, 

 whatever it might do on theirs ; but their system of 

 punching and nailing is altogether so excellent as 

 to deserve imitation more extensively than it has 

 hitherto been honoured with, and is described with 

 due discrimination lower down. The horn at the 

 toe would, of course, be made of a fit shape to re- 

 ceive such a form of shoe as the French ; and we 

 have reason to believe that it affects the toe of the 

 coffin-bone in process of time, which also becomes 

 curved upwards, precisely after the form thus fac- 

 titiously given to the horn, and doubtless gave rise 

 to the discrepant representations adverted to at 

 page 445. 



On finishing off fine work, let the inside of the 

 edge or rim of the hinder shoes be well bevelled 

 off towards the ground, and rounded, to prevent 

 the possibility of coming in contact with the fore 

 foot : with horses that are apt to forge, the necessity 

 of keeping the fore-shoe heel short, so that it may 

 not project beyond the natural heel, should never 

 be lost sight of. So, of the inside of the fore 

 shoes to prevent cutting : let these also be filed off, 

 shoping towards the ground, though not so far as 

 the heels. 



An improved form of shoe, preferable to both 

 the foregoing, has been recently introduced, which 



