G58 The Structure of the Horse's Foot uiid Principles of Shoeing. 
teentli century to be told that the " children of the desert " did 
better things in the way of making and fixing shoes to horses' 
feet than are done now ; but there are good reasons for the 
statement. The Arab shoe was light, it protected the bottom 
of the foot from injury, the nails had very large heads, and were 
so driven that only the lower part of the crust was pierced, and 
the heads of the nails gave a better foothold than is obtained by 
the modern system of shoeing. 
The drawing in Plate 10 (page 669) shows the form of the 
Arab shoe, copied from Dr. Fleming's work on Shoeing, and it is 
evident that this thin flat plate of iron can be fastened to the foot 
in such a way that the whole of the bottom of the organ, the crust, 
the sole, and the frog, shall be equally pressed. In fact, the 
Arab shoe is in the position of a thin sheet of iron between the 
bottom of the foot and the ground, causing the least inter- 
ference with the natural tread. 
Let us now take the modern shoe and present system of apply- 
ing it to the foot. First, as will be seen by Plate 11 (page 670), 
the shoe is a narrow rim of iron, with the nail holes so close to the 
outside edge that the nails must be driven some distance up the 
wall of the hoof to get hold enough to keep the shoe on. Then 
the inside of the shoe is often beaten out (seated), so as to rest 
on the crust only while the sole and frog are pared away, and 
all the parts of the ground surface of the foot which should help 
to support the animal's weight are lifted off the ground. 
Plainly stated, the Arab shoe allowed the wliole of the base of 
the foot, wall, sole, and frog, to rest on a hard surface. The 
modern shoe lifts the greater part of the base from the ground, 
and thus the whole of the horse's weight rests on the edge of the 
wall. The diagrams in Plate 12 (page 671) will show the differ- 
ence in the results of the ancient and modern system. 
A systeni of shoeing, known as the Charlier system, has of 
late years attracted some attention and even made some pro- 
gress. Many difficulties stand in its way, but in its principle 
the plan is as near perfection as possible. The Charlier shoe is 
a narrow rim of iron which is let into the wall of tlie foot for a 
certain distance round the toe and quarters, leaving the whole 
of the bottom of the foot to take its proper place on the ground. 
A foot thus stood is as nearly in a natural position as it can be 
with any form of shoe. The organ is better placed than with 
the Arab shoe, because the bottom of the foot is in contact with 
the earth, instead of with an iron plate, and in either way the 
foot is better off than with the ordinaxy shoe, because with that 
the sole and frog are in contact with nothing at all. 
Keeping in view the true principles of shoeing, the advice 
