ON SHOEING HORSES. 
553 
wards; and when the shoe was again nailed on, there was a 
trifling space between the heels of the hoof and shoe when off the 
ground. 
When another horse with low heels and a flat sole came to be 
shod, the olden custom was to bevil or make concave the upper 
surface of the shoe from the nail holes, leaving a flat seat for the 
crust; and if it became necessary to spring the heels, it was done 
as above stated. 
When another horse with low heels and convex sole, from the 
crust being thin or broken away, the whole of the upper surface of 
the shoe was bevilled or made concave to the outer edge of the 
shoe, and applied without paring the sole, so that the crust, as it 
was, bore on the shoe, and sometimes part of the sole. If it be¬ 
came necessary to spring the heels of the shoe, it was done by 
widening the heels only, which gave the space required; and if 
the shoeing smith thought the horse went tender, from the sole 
bearing too much, he bevilled the shoe more, rather than pare the 
sole. The nailing of these shoes was, in general, what is called 
coarse fullering, i. e. there was a broad bearing of the whole crust 
on the shoe, except when the heels of the shoe were sprung, which, 
while the horse did not go lame, was not attended to. Now this, 
with a little difference in the width of the web, a flat or convex 
lower surface of the shoe, was old English shoeing; and, in 
essential particulars, it may be said to have been old German, and 
old French horse shoeing. The object of this paper has reference 
only to the mooted question of the present day—the necessity of 
springing the heels of shoes as ordinary practice, i. e. of every 
horse. It would exceed the space you have allowed me, mates, to 
go into a whole history of the Caliphah. 
Now, it was observed, whether horses were unshod or shod, 
there was a tendency in the heels of the hoof to contract, and that 
it occurred differently in different horses, both high and low heeled, 
therefore, the cause became difficult of explanation ; but as it was 
more common in shod horses, the upper surface of the shoe was 
thought, by Caliph and Sollysell, to be better constructed when 
made with the plane inclined outwards, instead of inwards, which 
allowed the heels to be pressed inward by the weight. It was 
plausible enough that the heels could not contract against the in¬ 
clined plane outwards of his slipper or panton shoe ; but as the 
downward spring of the hoof was still prevented, concussion 
happened frequently, as with other shoes. Besides, this prevented 
only one kind of contraction. 
The Caliph Lafosse exclaimed, by the beard of the prophet, 
though that was not short, the shoe should be short, like the 
crescent. The half-moon shoe was tried, and of course it answered 
