CONFORMATION OF HORSES. 
547 
is on the crust only, or the heels are sprung either with a 
plain, open, or bar shoe, the sole will descend and the crust 
expand, and though this is not sometimes visible , yet does it 
happen, by gradual growth, till the character of the foot is 
completely changed ; the degree of pressure of weight is, in 
these instances, greater than the counter-pressure, that is, 
the pressure and counter-pressure are unequal . A flat sole, 
low heels, and declined crust : horses with such feet are most 
liable to lameness, and this descent of the sole and expansion 
of the crust continue, till the horse is used up. No respite 
is allowed. 
The London farriers adopt the method of shoeing, and 
the shoe, to enable these horses to go, but only the quicker to 
the knackers . They are something like Shakespeare’s apothe- 
cary, “ Their poverty but not their will consents.” They 
know very well if they do not make the horse go, the horse 
will be taken to another forge. Are all the feet of her 
Majesty’s cavalry horses in this state, to require the using-up 
shoe ? When a horse’s foot is in this unfortunate state, the 
sole has sunk half, in many cases more than this, from what it is in 
a hind foot, or a light horse’s fore foot, which is not so subject 
to lameness, nay, it is very seldom that horses are lame in 
the hind feet. Well then, any one would suppose that it is 
best to counteract this tendency to descent of sole and expansion 
of crust, and that it should not be induced by the London 
using-up shoe, and the fear of loss of custom , from a horse 
becoming lame, by pressure on the sole. Pressure on the 
crust at the heels is just as likely, more so than pressure on 
the sole at the toe, to produce lameness, for if you bore a hole 
with a gimlet at the heels, it is opposite the sensible foot, 
but if you bore a hole in the sole at the toe, it is not opposite 
sensible parts. But — what is the use of your arguments against 
the experience of men of such repute l Sir, I have respect for 
these gentlemen, but allow me to say, they have never 
practised any other method, for fear they should lose their 
dinners. I and many others have not been afraid of losing 
our dinners, therefore have followed just the contrary prac- 
tise, with equal success, at all events : we have nature with us. 
They live in London, where everything you do must pay. 
Her Majesty’s cavalry is not a commercial affair, required to 
keep time over London stones, or on the road. “ They must 
needs go whom the devil drives.” Cavalry in general drive 
the devil, there is the difference. 
In The Veterinarian for April, 1850, pp. 198, Mr. Reeve has 
shown a woodcut of the section of a horse’s foot, the sole of 
which has descended half way to flatness ; not only that, he 
