414 
A. LIAUTAftD. 
This observation of M. Bouley seems to us very correct. It 
is beyond doubt that hoof-bound is more frequently observed 
amongst horses of meridional origin than in those bred north. It 
is due, not to their origin, not to a special hereditary constitution, 
but to the fact that the effects of shoeing to the point of view of 
the conservation of the form of the foot, are so much more in¬ 
jurious, that this organ is narrower. Let us try to prove it. 
In a southern holse, with feet relatively narrow, high heels, thin 
frog, French shoeing as it is generally practiced, has for result, to 
screen the frog, more or less, from contact with the ground. In 
northern breed, on the contrary, with their wide expanded feet, low 
heels, the frog, even pared to excess, yet rests upon the ground. 
And let us add that amongst these last horses, many are employed 
for the work of the farms, and that then the foot, sinking in the 
soft ground brings pressure to the plantar surface. French shoe¬ 
ing having for effect to remove the natural conditions of the foot, 
is it surprising that its pathological consequences are more marked 
in one animal than in the other ? No, and it is useless to invocate 
for this result, the influence of special hereditary constitutions. 
This opinion is confirmed by the fact that the virgin foot of 
the Arab horse, or of the mare of Tarbes is never hoof-bound, and 
by the other fact that Arab shoeing, deficient as it may be or seem 
to be, has never for effect given rise to that lesion. It is because 
the Arab horse-shoe is a bar shoe, and that the frog takes its por¬ 
tion of pressure as in the normal state. 
To resume, the frequence of hoof-bound in horses of meridional 
breeds is not the effect of special predisposition; but the result of 
external causes. 
2. As cause of hoof-bound, the influence of the fixedness of the 
shoe by the nail has been considered. Is the opinion justified ? 
Whatever may be the adopted opinion relating to the expans- 
ability of the posterior parts of the foot; whether with MM. 
Bouley, Merche, Bey, Goyau, etc., it is admitted that the foot is 
elastic, or with MM. Reynal and Lafosse, that it is unchangeable 
in its form, it does not seem to us possible, to grant to the fixedness 
of the shoe by the nails, any influence upon the production of 
hoof-bound. 
