SHOEING CAVALRY HORSES, 
219 
leg ; — I should be disposed to listen to his objections to the 
concave shoeing. But, from experience, I know the reverse 
of this to be the case ; and, as long as I possess one of the 
equine race, whether horse, mule, or ass, he shall never be 
shod with any other shoe of which I have any knowledge 
at present. A shoe with a concave upper surface shall never 
come in contact with my horse’s foot; not only for the safety 
of my own neck, but from a conviction that the reverse of 
this or a flat surface, preserves the foot in a more sound and 
healthy state. I am surprised that an experiment was not 
ordered to be made with the two shoes in the Household 
Brigade,* before deciding such an important question, there 
being in the vicinity of London a greater variation in the 
roads than elsewhere, thus presenting an admirable oppor- 
tunity of testing the merits of the same, as far as the safety 
of the rider is concerned, — a point I consider of the utmost 
importance under any circumstances, but more especially so 
when there is from nineteen to twenty stone upon the animal’s 
back. I have heard it said, that the great object was to fix 
upon a shoe of the plainest description, and the easiest one to 
make. Now, in this respect, they have succeeded admirably, 
for a plainer one certainly could not very well have been 
fabricated ; but there is no more difficulty, that I am aware 
of, in making the shoe concave next the ground (without a 
tool which my smiths never use), than there is in making it 
concave next the foot, which every smith that I have put the 
question to, has answered in the affirmative. And, I think 
again, it must be clear to an unprejudiced mind, that the 
horse is much more secure on his legs in a shoe which gives 
him the natural tread, which is not flat, but concave , and 
which enables him to embrace or grasp the ground, and, 
consequently, not so liable to slip in a shoe of this descrip- 
tion, as with one having a flat ground-surface; to say nothing 
of imprisonment and impediment to the functions of the foot, 
from the shoe which is concave next the same ; besides the 
liability to have the shoes pulled off in heavy ground. The 
suction being greater, more nails are required than with the 
close-fitting shoe, which, in the majority of horses, Jive nails 
will keep securely on the foot. 
The New Pattern Fore-Shoe , shown to me, which weighs 
13i| ounces will, in my opinion, be found too light, in as 
much as it will not last the horse a month, or eight and 
twenty days. It is likewise too narrow in the web, not 
* Two regiments (out of the three) composing the Household Cavalry Brigade 
already used, and had for years used, the concave shoe. — Ei>. Vet. 
