EXPANSION OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
381 
ment, although such numbers of practical observations tend to the 
proof. We need not be surprised at this, when we reflect how 
many clever men have written on the subject of the horse’s foot, 
and advocated its expansion at the quarters, and the descent of the 
sole and frog, until for the last half century these theories have 
been taken as truisms, and it is only now we are beginning to 
feel doubts and hesitation on the subject. I believe that a down¬ 
ward and backward action of the foot could not be produced under 
any circumstances if it were not consonant with its organism. A 
valued friend of mine started an objection, that, because the la¬ 
minae all round the hoof are arranged nearly in a circle, therefore 
it was impossible they could yield backwards, else they would be 
yielding in directions contrary to their fibres, that is, they would 
be giving way in contrary directions. How, then, is it that, on 
every occasion when the shoe will allow of this motion taking 
place, it will immediately do so, as in the common instance of 
sandcracks, or when the heels are sprung 1 How difficult, nay, 
impossible, do we find it to produce a motion which is not conso¬ 
nant with the organism! Can we by experiment shew an expan¬ 
sion of the quarters at the lower circumference 1—or, under ordinary 
circumstances of shoeing, and with moderately concave feet, can 
we shew any descent of the sole 1 And yet on all occasions this 
downward and backward action of the hoof can be readily pro¬ 
duced, merely by the weight of the animal, when the heels are left 
at all sprung. We see that if one heel is left at liberty this mo¬ 
tion takes place in that quarter of the foot. When a horse stands 
unshod upon perfectly level and hard ground, it is similar to his 
standing on a well-seated shoe, and this action would not, perhaps, 
take place; but the horse in a state of nature seldom stands upon 
a perfectly flat surface, or, if he does, it is probably a yielding sur¬ 
face, and at one time one heel may be at liberty, at another the 
other; and the surprising changes that take place in the character 
of the horn of a horse left without shoes, or wearing tips, demon¬ 
strates that some peculiar action of the foot is wanting in the shod 
state, which puts the horny fibres comparatively out of use. 
I believe that the stable treatment of our horses is frequently as 
great a source of lameness as shoeing; indeed, we have only to look 
round at the common horses employed in agricultural operations in 
the country to be convinced of this, seeing these horses frequently 
maintain uninterrupted soundness under every variety of shoeing. 
Our stabled, pampered horses suffer in their feet from a variety of 
causes. In a state of nature the sole and frog would be receiving 
a certain amount of pressure and moisture all day long, and the 
hoofs be also kept in a moistened state. The farm horse enjoys 
these advantages in his apparently neglected state. The stabled 
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