28 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE H O liSE-S AN DAL. 
The Straps, which are composed of web, consist of a hoof 
strap , and a heel-and-coronet strap . 
The Hoof Strap is nothing more than a plain strap of a cer¬ 
tain length, furnished with a buckle, whose office it is to bind 
the shoe to the hoof; for which purpose it is passed through the 
lower rings and both the loops of the shoe, and is made to twice 
encircle the hoof. 
The Heel-and-Coronet Strap is not so simple: it is, as well 
as the former, a continued strap ; but, then, it is furnished with 
two pads and two sliding loops. One, a moveable pad, reposes 
upon the heel to defend that part from the pressure and friction 
of the strap; the other, a pad attached to the strap near the 
buckle, affords a similar defence to the coronet in front. The 
sliding loops are placed at the sides immediately over the upper 
rings, in which situation they prevent the strap from slipping. 
The heel strap runs through the upper rings, crosses the heel, 
and encircles the coronet; and its office is to maintain the heels 
of the shoe closely applied to the hoof, and to prevent them 
from sliding forward. The plate accompanying this Number 
of The Veterinarian will serve to elucidate this description 
of the attachment of the sandal to the foot; which, without the 
power to avoid it, appears somewhat complicated, and not less 
to the writer, perhaps, than the reader. 
application of the sandal. 
It may not prove very easy, intelligibly to point out the little 
dexterity required to put the sandal on the foot, or even to shew 
the still less knack required in taking it off; and yet, were the 
sandal for the first time put into the hands of any one at all con¬ 
versant with horses, he could hardly find himself puzzled in 
such a simple affair. 
The straps, it must be remembered, are perfectly separable 
from the shoe, and on occasions (such as requiring cleaning) 
may be removed from it: on the occasion, however, of putting 
the shoe on, both the straps, with the pads and the loops, are to 
be arranged in their proper places, so that, as soon as the foot 
is slipped into the shoe, they may at once be tightened and 
buckled. 
The method of proceeding is this:—Take up the foot with one 
hand; slip the shoe upon it with the other ; and, with the same 
hand, retain the shoe in its place while the foot is gradually let 
down to rest upon the ground: as soon as which is done, draw 
the straps as tight as possible, and buckle them. 
In taking the shoe off, the straps must first be unbuckled, and 
then the foot lifted off the ground. 
