44 ON SHOEING IIORSES THAT STRIKE OR CUT. 
were raised to a level with the outer, and so much the more as 
they were made proportionally higher, that the fetlock joints 
would be thrown farther apart, so as to admit of the foot passing 
by the supporting leg without striking the joint. Accordingly, 
for the last two centuries at least, it has been usual to make the 
inner quarter of the shoe higher than the outer ; not only has 
this been the general practice, but it has been regularly recom- 
mended by every writer from that time to the present: and 
notwithstanding this method has very frequently failed of success, 
yet repeated disappointments have never led to the questioning 
of the truth of the principle. Nay, indeed, the reliance placed 
upon it has been so strong, probably from the simplicity of the 
reasoning on which it is founded, that, in the cases where it most 
particularly disappointed expectation, its failure was generally 
attributed to the practice not being carried sufficiently far, and 
accordingly the shoe has been still more raised on the inner 
quarter, and the edges of the crust and shoe have been filed 
away. When with these expedients it likewise failed, the last 
resource has been a circular piece of leather placed round the 
joint to receive the blow of the foot. 
It is now about four years since that a shoe with the outer 
quarter thick and the inner one thin was, for the first time, in 
the practice of the author at least, employed in a case which 
baffled many attempts on the old plan. 
On the first trial the horse ceased to cut, nor has he ever done 
it since ; which can only be attributed to his having constantly 
worn the same kind of shoe. This circumstance did not then 
excite in the mind of the author any doubt as to the propriety 
of a practice which had so long been generally acknowledged, 
but was rather considered as an extraordinary exception. How- 
ever, other bad cases, which occurred occasionally since that 
period, were treated in the same way, and with the same success. 
These facts, at length, led the author to conclude, that a practice 
which was so uniformly followed by success, in cases where the 
established one as uniformly failed, must necessarily repose on a 
better principle ; although for a long time he was completely at 
a loss how to explain it : for if the action of cutting did prin- 
cipally depend upon the faulty position of the fetlock joints and 
the feet with respect to each other, and it appeared to be gene- 
rally agreed that such was the fact, it should seem that a means, 
which by raising the outer quarters would throw the fetlocks 
still nearer to each other, would necessarily increase the defect 
in question ; but as the reverse of this actually takes place, it 
might induce a suspicion that there exists some othpr cause of 
cutting which has been hitherto overlooked. 
