SHOEING CAVALltY HORSES IN INDIA. 
197 
utility of the practice . Where horses’ hoofs are left strong, as 
in Asia, Africa, Turkey in Europe, Portugal, Spain, and the 
South of France, there the hoof is most capable of perform- 
ing what is required, whether in the unshod or shod state. 
Horses cannot go so well when the hoof is deficient in sub- 
stance of horn at the base ; the foot in this state cannot bear 
pressure against the ground if unshod, or against the shoe if 
shod, from descent of the thin sole, which does not happen 
in the thicker sole ; and thus horses go better when the 
hoofs are strong and they require to be shod, than when the 
substance of the base has been reduced by being recently 
shod. This is the reason the native horse-shoer never 
destroys his own method of nailing by paring the sole con- 
cave up to the crust, making the bearing on the shoe so 
narrow, and the edge of the sole so weak, that, as Mr. J. W. 
Gloag, in his 9th experiment, observed, “ uneven pressure 
on the sole will cause lameness immediately, as also any 
pressure when it is thin therefore English farriers are 
obliged to leave space between this part and the shoe : and 
the late Professor Coleman said this was a principle of shoe- 
ing, but it is only an unavoidable practice of English shoeing, 
when the function of the foot is thus diminished. Had it 
been a principle it could not be deviated from, as it was by 
himself in strong soles, when, he said, “ the sole might press 
on the shoe.” Every one has admitted the late Professor 
Colemans physiology to be correct, “that the laminae or 
bond of union between the foot and hoof is alone capable of 
supporting the weight of the horse ;” therefore, descent of 
the sole and expansion of the heels cannot be a corollary, 
from such a demonstration as the kicking mare with drawn 
soles of the fore feet ; and, however some may have under- 
stood the late Professor’s lectures, it was not his physiology 
above, when he described those states of the hoof, and bear- 
ing on the ground or shoe, in which descent of the sole and 
expansion of the heels happens. This cannot be the logical 
conclusion from the foregoing proposition, that the “physio- 
logy is to support the weight,” when the reverse of this 
happens, as shown by Mr. Reeve, in his experiments on a 
foot in the above state, and his corollary, p. 198, Veterinarian 
for April, 1850. 
I do not feel it necessary to go into controversy on what 
occurs under different circumstances of shoeing, any more 
than I would upon any other practice of the veterinary art. 
It is sufficient that I inform the student going to India that 
he has nothing to do with the story of the “ Pilgrims and the 
Peas 5” the horses he will there have to do with travel upon 
