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210 
sequently. the earliest and the most rudely con- 
structed horse-shoe that we find for the fore feet, 
was formed so as to admit in a certain degree of 
the motion or descent of the sole. But it was 
afterwards found, as more particular attention 
came to be paid to the diseases of the feet, that 
many of the rarer or more deep-seated of these 
arose from the means adopted to prevent the 
more obvious. The simplest and readiest method 
of preventing pressure upon the sole, by allowing 
its descent, was to bevel off the shoe in such a 
manner that the crust of the hoof could only rest 
on the outer edge of it; thus leaving a sufficient 
space for the descent of the sole. Such a con- 
struction, however, involved the foot in more 
serious consequences. The sides and extremities 
of the crust, resting upon an inclined plane, 
when the animal is made to perform the ordi- 
nary exertions to which he is commonly applied, 
are made to approximate each other at every 
step; and, instead of the liberty of action, and 
the expansion of hoof which would take place in 
the natural and unrestrained state, the foot be- 
comes so squeezed as to occasion great pain to 
the animal, and to involve a total destruction 
of its own functions. Connected with shoeing, 
arises another inconvenience, in the gradual 
growth of the hoof, which, exposed in a state of 
_ nature, is constantly being worn away, but, by 
the protection of the shoe, becomes abundant, 
and requires to be cut down more or less at 
different periods. The paring of the hoof being 
of necessity entrusted to those who apply the 
shoe, and they viewing the operation as an indif- 
ferent matter, a careless and improper removal 
of the hoof is almost a certain consequence, by 
which means parts that ought to be left strong 
and well protected are removed, while those which 
ought to be removed are commonly allowed to 
remain; and, in consequence, the feet become 
distorted, and disease is rapidly induced. 
Amongst the first who attempted to remedy 
these defects was a Fosse, who considered the 
principal evils to arise from the construction of 
the common shoe raising the heels and frog from 
the ground, so as to deprive the tendons, when 
in action, of the necessary support which they 
receive from the frog in a state of nature resting 
upon the ground; and to obviate these mischiefs, 
he strongly recommended the short thin-heeled 
or half-moon shoe, extending round the toe, and 
back to the quarters, and to leave the sole and 
frog unpared. The heels and quarters being thus 
left at liberty, and the frog brought in contact 
with the ground, the foot somewhat approaches 
the natural state. But, while this shoe may be 
applied with safety and advantage to strong feet, 
the varieties that occur, both in the form and 
strength of different feet, and in the construction 
of the limbs of many horses, set narrow limits to 
the advantages that were at first expected to 
arise from itsadoption. The tendons of the limb, 
instead of being relieved by it, seemed to suffer 
ae 
SHOEING. 
more frequently than before, because the elon- 
gation of the toe by the gradual growth of 
horn, and the addition of the shoe upon fre- 
quently an improperly prepared foot, threw a 
greater instead of a less strain upon the tendons, 
more especially in long pasterned horses, and thus 
a formidable objection to it was raised, which, 
together with its obvious inapplicability to very 
low weak-heeled feet, prevented it from passing 
into permanent repute. 
Osmer, J. Clark, and Moorcroft, considering 
that the evils produced by shoeing arose chiefly 
from the bevelling of the shoe, improper paring, 
and unequal pressure, introduced and recom- 
mended the seated concave shoe, now most com- 
monly in use in the most respectable forges in 
this country ; and the fact that it has continued 
to be generally approved, notwithstanding many 
more modern attempts to substitute something 
better, is almost enough to establish its supe- 
riority over at least the majority of other forms 
of horse-shoes. A properly made seated shoe is 
formed nearly of an equal thickness on its outer 
edge, from the heel to the toe. On the surface 
next the hoof, a portion is left quite flat for the 
crust to rest upon, which flat part is continued 
all round the outer edge of the hoof surface, but 
is, at each heel, the full breadth of the shoe for 
the junction of the crust and bars to rest upon. 
By this means, the hoof which rests upon it is 
not squeezed or inclined in, as in the old plan of 
shoeing; nay, at the extremities of the heels, it 
may be so arranged, that, instead of inclining 
the crust inwards, it may be bevelled off, so as to 
form an inclined plane outwards, and thus assist 
in expanding the foot. After sufficient space is 
left for the resting of the crust, the remainder of 
the web (the inner part of the shoe) is bevelled 
off, so as to leave a space, when the shoe is put 
upon the foot, sufficient to allow a picker to pass 
freely all around between it and the horny sole. 
By this arrangement, the shoe is tightened, and 
a flat or even a concave surface may be exposed 
to the ground, by which the animal’s step is ren- 
dered secure. ‘To preserve the shoe safely in its 
situation, it is pierced with either seven or eight 
nail holes for a moderate sized horse, and with a 
greater number for larger ones. These holes 
are generally pierced from a groove, technically 
termed the fullering, made in the ground sur- 
face; and though they may be stamped at once 
without affecting the merits of the shoe, yet the 
fullering both enables the shoe to take a firmer 
hold of the ground, and, when properly executed, 
serves as a guide to the proper placing of the 
nail-holes. The advantages of the seated shoe, 
however, great though these are, have been 
found insufficient to prevent a number of the 
most serious diseases of the feet, such as chronic 
founder, contraction, and grogginess, 
Professor Coleman, at the commencement of his 
career, adopted the opinions of La Fosse; and, by 
a variety of ingenious contrivances, for several of 
