200 ON THE EXPANSION OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
which the heels are supposed to sink deeper into the soil than 
does the anterior part of the foot, I am of opinion that one part of 
it at least, viz. the depression, might easily be tested by the ex- 
periment over well-tempered clay. In my own experiments I 
particularly examined the casts to ascertain if such really was the 
case ; but in no instance did I find indications of the heels having 
sunk deeper into the ground than other portions of the under sur- 
face of the crust. 
I should be gratified, however, to hear the results of a repetition 
of these experiments, for I think so important a subject cannot be 
too closely tested. 
ON THE EXPANSION OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
By Wm. Ernes, M.R.C.V.S . , Dockhead, London. 
M. Lafosse, sen., to whom veterinary science is so much 
indebted, was the first who described the elasticity of the foot, 
or, better, the flexibility of the hoof*. This was afterwards still 
further explained by M. Lafosse, jun., in his Manual Hippiatric, 
published in 1766 ; a work written in questions and answers, and 
in which the three-quarter or short shoe is recommended. This 
shoe terminates a little beyond the quarters, and it is made gradually 
thinner, to allow the frog and the heel to come to the ground at 
every step. One question in thus shoeing short is — Is there no 
fear of the horse going lame from the wear and tear of the parts, 
in consequence of being brought in contact with the ground or 
hard pavement substances ? 
Answer . — It is true that there is an old prejudice that, to protect 
the heels, it is necessary to make the shoes long ; and when the 
advocates of these shoes are told that the iron of the shoe is as 
hard as the ground or the pavement, their answer is, that they 
take care to leave space between the shoe and the heels, to pre- 
vent them from bearing on the shoe, which, in fact, they do; so 
that, if you take up the foot, you may introduce the blade of a 
table-knife between the shoe and the foot : but this only holds 
good while the foot is off the ground ; for if you let it down, and 
take up the other foot, they look very foolish, as in this position 
they are not able to introduce the smallest substance, even to that 
of a beaten gold leaf between. They fancy next that the shoe 
* Observations et Decouvertes sur les Chevaux, avec une nouvelle pratique 
sur la Ferrure. — Par Lafosse (pfae), Paris, 1754. 
