EXPANSIBILITY OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
93 
proceed to relieve this oppressed and delicate organ? Would 
you not, in the first place, remove the superabundancy of horn— 
I mean, thin the sole, and open the commissures, and apply the 
unilateral shoe? and what will be the result? The sole descends, 
and with it the internal parts of the foot; the cartilages are 
brought into action; the heels and quarters expand ; the navicular 
bone retreats from its heightened situation; the frog becomes 
more prominent and of a better quality; the lateral cartilages 
more stout, which adds materially to the circular form, and we 
obtain, as it w'ere, a new organization of the foot. 
Now, I just think I hear some of our gentlemen vets, making 
use of the following words :—“ Well, with all his fine-spun 
theory, he advances what he cannot accomplish.” I must how¬ 
ever inform them, that they are practical observations, accom¬ 
plished by the labour of my own hand; and it would be no 
disgrace if all veterinary surgeons could use the drawing-knife and 
hammer, and had made themselves well acquainted with the proper 
formation of shoes, and the healthy and morbid structure of the 
foot of the horse. 
With regard to some observations made by our worthy Presi¬ 
dent, I must say a word or two. In speaking of leather soles, 
he says, “ my mare has been shod with leather these fourteen 
years, and her feet have yet the appearance of those of a five-year- 
old horse.” Now, let us next take the labour of his mare into con¬ 
sideration. Does her work exceed five miles a day? I should be 
disposed to think not: then, what is the utility of the oriental shoe 
he so strongly recommends ? What would a Paddington coach¬ 
man or an omnibus proprietor say of it ? I feel surprised that 
such an opinion should have been broached by the first pathologist 
of the day, a gentleman to whom the profession is greatly indebted. 
Should this catch his eye, I hope he will pardon my freedom. 
As to the tips spoken of in the discussion, in my opinion they 
can be of little or no use to the working horse. They may serve 
for a horse at grass, or for one to scamper in a straw-yard ; and 
even there may be productive of great mischief to an animal with 
long oblique })asterns, weak and badly developed ligaments, and 
low heels. They are sometimes applied to the foot of the race¬ 
horse, and considered by a few to be superior to the plate that 
extends to the heel. I have heard a nobleman who stands high 
in turf matters, and who had a fine horse engaged in a race, and 
which was plated with the tip, after the first heat order his 
groom to have those-tips taken off, for they made the horse 
into a rocking-machine. “ Remove those tips immediately,” 
said he, “ and make him a plated horse*.” 
* Platen extPinliiig to the heel, 
o 
VOL. XI. 
