74 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS, 



level witli the frog. In the instances which Dr. Taliaferro gives, the 

 probable cause of the soreness was the wearing away of the outer 

 side of the foot until it is something like the channeling which the 

 Goodenough process directs. Finding that such a large majority of 

 horses wear the outside the most, without direct examination, the as- 

 sumption is probably correct. The gliding motion, which is a pecu- 

 liarity in the action of the blood-horse, entails greater friction and 

 greater wear ; and the feet having been pared during the time when 

 shoes were worn, the growth of one winter is not enough to with- 

 stand the work of the summer. The three-quarter shoe will remedy 

 this, and the benefits which arise from the whole foot being unfet- 

 tered for one-third of the time will enable the animal to wear this 

 form of shoe with good results. It is so much better than the ordi- 

 nary kind that it does not require long arguments to prove the supe- 

 riority. The setting must be the same as the tips, the shoulder 

 square where it ends on the inner side of the toe, and the inner side 

 of the foot left flush with the ground surface of the iron. 



There is a pi'evailing opinion that low heels increase the strain on 

 the tendons of the fore legs, and this is so generally entertained that 

 it has beei:i reiterated over and over again in arguments against the 

 use of tips, and generally in a confident, dogmatic way that was to 

 end the argument at once. Veterinarians are nearly unanimous in 

 recommending that the heels be raised when an animal is suffering 

 from a sti-ain of the back tendon. The propriety of that treatment 

 we shall not question, at least in this article, but attempt to show 

 that there is less danger of " breaking down," or severe strains when 

 the foot is low enough at the heel to allow the parts to perform their 

 natural functions. The muscles are the main motive force in ani- 

 mals, and this arises from the power they possess of dilatation and 

 contraction. In some parts of the frame they act directly, in others, 

 through tendons. These are firm, compact bands of white bundles 

 of fibres, very nearly insensible, though the sheathing or covering is 

 acutely sensitive when there is inflammation. In a former article 

 (page 33) there was a cut showing the cannon, sesamoid, pastern and 

 coronet bones. "When published before, the object was to show that 

 a shoe which projected behind the heel was injurious, the cut and 



