25S 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE 
The first series of Experiments were performed with a shoe, or 
fiat piece of iron, applied evenly to the foot as far back as the heels ; 
the idea being to find out what was the action of the foot with 
a shoe applied in the common way. 
Experiment. 
The subject was a three-year-old colt, which had never been 
shod. 
The width of the foot at the quarters was exactly measured 
when the foot was on the ground, whilst the other leg was held up. 
The horse stood unshod upon a flat piece of board, with paper 
pasted on it, and the circumference of the hoof was most carefully 
marked upon it with a pencil, and accurately measured by means of 
fine calipers, and the dimensions afterwards compared with that of 
the foot when in the air. 
Result .—I could not detect any perceptible difference. 
Observations .—In corroboration of this I may add, that, if we 
paint that part of a shoe which projects slightly beyond the line of 
crust at the quarters, this paint will not rub off when the horse is 
in action, but will maintain the strict line; and, also, when we take 
off horses’ shoes daily in the forge, we find the line of rust most 
minutely marked, which separated that part of the shoe on which 
the foot rested (and which is often brightened) from that part which 
projected beyond the hoof; also, when we employ a clip at the side 
of the foot, we often see a brightening of the shoe at the inside of 
the clip where lateral motion could not take place, shewing that the 
brightening of the shoe is not caused by lateral expansion. It is 
no proof in favour of the expansion of the foot that in many horses 
we can pull the heels of the foot slightly asunder with the hands; 
for if Nature had not provided means to counteract this, and if 
superincumbent weight had any thing like a proportional effect to 
the power of the hands, there would be a most extraordinary and 
visible lateral expansion at the heels at every step, which decidedly 
is not the case. 
Experiment. 
Subject a heavy cart-horse, with a good foot, moderately con¬ 
cave. 
A well-seated shoe was made, and to that part of its under-surface 
which would be opposite to the point of the frog, a flat piece of iron 
was welded across the shoe. The shoe was then applied, and laid 
