ON THE EXPANSION BAR SHOE. 
621 
well, and the feet improve when shod on this plan; but no man 
of any experience would think of shoeing hunters so, except he 
removes the one-third of it (the unfettered portion), and then it 
will remain on the foot as well, if not better, than any other. 
When it is applicable to shoe horses with corns, contracted and 
weakly made quarters, with this shoe, and the inner heels get 
strong and expand by being exposed to the friction of the road, 
I see no reason w r hy we should not shoe hunters’ fore feet with 
the three-quarter shoe, and then the “ side-nailing” will answer 
for road or field. 
Having more than once found myself in rather awkward cir¬ 
cumstances with some of my employers, from their horses occa¬ 
sionally losing a shoe during the hunting season, I am always very 
careful that my workmen have good nails, shoes properly fitted, 
and the holes of every shoe well placed ; but even wdien all pains 
are taken, and your shoes nailed up to each heel, they will come 
off in heavy ground. I however must observe, that there is no 
fault that can be committed in the forge department of our pro¬ 
fession more apt to give offence (pricking excepted) than that of 
losing shoes. 
The tablet expansion shoe I think highly of; but as a shoe for 
general use it must now and then give place to some other, as 
I find that not one workman out of ten can make it properly; 
The ingenuity and unwearied zeal of the inventor, Mr. 13. Clark, 
however, cannot be too much applauded by the profession; and 
the tablet expansion shoe certainly deserves a place in every well 
regulated forge. I have shod horses occasionally with this shoe ; 
and although I have put clips at the heels to take off* lateral 
nail pressure from the crust, I found a great deal of difficulty in 
regulating the motion of the shoe so as to correspond with the 
expansion of the foot ; as I find the expansion of the feet of 
horses to vary according to the formation of the foot, the mode of 
action, weight of fore quarters, &,c. See. 
The two great expansion of the shoe has been found to prove 
highly injurious to the wall of the foot, by tearing it away opposite 
to each nail hole; the pressure of the nails on the inside of the 
crust being more than it could bear; and in the course of two or 
three shoeings your horse will scarcely have any foot at all. Then 
is the old adage fulfilled, “ No foot no horse;” for you must lose 
the use of him until his hoofs grow. 
O § 
When we call to mind the great variety of feet we meet with in 
the course of our practice, and various other circumstances, it 
will be found a very difficult matter to invent a shoe of this kind 
to combat all we have stated; but, in my opinion, the nearer we 
arrive at forming a shoe to act as a portion of, or in unison with the 
