670 
REVIEW. 
soon becomes irksome. He shifts from one foot to another, but finds it 
only a temporary relief. The muscles connected with the tendons that pass 
down the back part of the leg to the foot, soon begin to relax, till the weight 
falls on the ligamentous straps behind and below the knee. Then the bones 
of the pastern and foot become still more sloping, and to sustain' his body 
perpendicularly above his feet, and still more to relax the muscles, the knee 
bulges out in front to a line with the projecting toe. This at first occurs 
only now and then, when the horse is wearied or forgetful, his postures 
becoming natural and proper when roused up. By-and-by, however, it 
becomes a habit, aud the causes being permanent and constant in their 
action, the effects soon become the same, and we have the horse for life 
* sprung in the knee/ 
“ Many a valuable animal, tottering on the brink of this condition, has 
been saved and brought back to usefulness, by having his feet put in a pro- 
per shape, and a run at grass, or a loose box to stand in allowed him, while 
others on whom the torture of long toes and sloping stalls was persevered 
with, have become permanently useless.” 
By the following, we take it Mr. Cuming is speaking of 
the skait-like curve given to the toe of the fore foot : — 
“The fore foot of the horse, as nature makes it, has no such projection in 
front and downward as that which the smiths here give it, but rather the 
reverse. The sole surface at the toe is commonly broken off and notched 
back at the middle, so that the pressure, when the foot strikes the ground, 
or the animal is raising his weight, is distributed over the whole front of the 
foot. In accordance with this the coffin bone, which fills the internal cavity 
of the hoof, has the same turned up and notched back form. In England, 
Erance, and on the Continent of Europe generally, wherever veterinary 
schools exist, and scientific attention is given to shoeing, this natural form 
of foot is more or less followed in the shape of the shoe, and the animal has 
preserved to him, along with the protection from wear which the shoe gives, 
the position of tread for which nature has constructed the other mechanical 
arrangements of his organs of motion. Why it is not so here is partially, 
perhaps, due to the use of buttris for cleaning out the foot when it is shod, 
as it is impossible with this antiquated instrument to bring the hoof to the 
proper shape in all its parts ; but it is more so to want of study on the part 
of those who shoe, of the structure of the foot, its uses, and the relation 
existing between it and the other motive organs, the bones, tendons, and 
ligaments of the limbs.” 
We cannot join in accord with Mr. Cuming when he says, 
“In England, &c., this natural (?) form of foot is followed 
in the shape of the shoe.” On the contrary, we believe that, 
in the majority of forges, the uncut or straight form of toe — 
the unnatural form, as Mr. Cuming would call it, prevails ; 
the “broken off” or “ notched-back shape,” is what we 
designate as the French cut , and only, we believe, is practised 
in certain forges. Our ordinary or national shoeing in 
England is not the rocking ground surface, but either the 
straight or the concave one. 
