BREAKING THE JAR. 



tlie equilibrium, and hence the heel must receive the firet shock of 

 the contact. Tlte xohole concussion is vpon the heel ; nearly the whole 

 of the friction ujwn the toe. How admirahlj the foot is fashioned to 

 sustain this concussion and friction is apparent to any one who will 

 give it careful thought. When the horse is at rest, nearly two-thirds 

 of the weight is supported by the fore feet, and the sound animal 

 does not attempt to relieve tiiem from the portion of the weight it 

 is their duty to sustain. In that case there would be a moderate 

 expansion of the foot. When he walks, three of the feet are encum- 

 bei-ed by the weight, while the fourth is moved forward, and the 

 foot which is Avithout a load is contracted, the others more expanded, 

 than when the animal was standing. In the trot of the ordinary 

 woi'k-horse, the pace is slow and the stride short, the hind foot drop- 

 ping into the track of the front. As velocity increases the force, 

 the slow trot is more trying than the walk, while the great rate of 

 the fast trotter, and the still faster flight of the race-horse, entails 

 the greatest possible concussion, the gi-eatest jar to the feet, and the 

 greatest strain upon their mechanism. When the foot is free to 

 dilate, so as to avail itself of the benefit of the spring of the wall 

 from the toe back, and the further breaking of the jar by the soft 

 and yielding pad of the frog, the great strain of even the gallop, 

 augmented by the weight of the rider, can be sustained. The unshod 

 foot may wear away from the friction of hard roads until the pro- 

 tecting covering is removed and the sensitive portion laid bare, when 

 the horse becomes lame, but the evils arising from concussion ai'e 

 unknown. In the last year I have inquii-ed of at least a hundred 

 gentleman who were familiar with the horse in early times in Cali- 

 fornia, when shoeing of saddle-horses was comparatively unknown, 

 if they had ever known quartei-oracks in this class of horses 1 

 " Never," was the unanimous response. Were corns frequent, or 

 bruises of the sole of common occurrence 1 The answer would be : 

 " I never knew an unshod horse to have corns, and the only draw- 

 })ack was the wearing away of the horn at tlie toe until they became 

 lame, when the animal was turned out, and a few weeks, especially 

 in the rainy season, furnished the remedy." That shoeing is the 

 cause of quarter-cracks and corns is absolutely proven by the 



