i a a a i En A A RS TER Tl i Le 
— 
which he took out patents, he long continued to 
| support them. Finding, at an early period, more 
difficulty in the practical application of the short 
shoe than in the principles of it, he chose to make 
| the heels of it extend to the extremity of the crust, 
at the junction of the bars, keeping the heels 
sufficiently thin to allow the frog, under ordinary 
circumstances, to receive a degree of pressure ; 
but as this could not always be obtained, he in- 
vented an artificial frog, an iron wedge, of suffi- 
cient thickness at its posterior part to extend 
beyond the level of the shoe, and rest on the 
| frog; so that when the animal stood in the stable, 
he should by this means rest the whole, or the 
| greater part, of his weight upon the frog. From 
| this it was expected that the foot would become 
expanded, and contraction be prevented. The 
shoe, however, after.a time was found insufficient 
to effect these purposes; and, in addition to the 
thin heels and wedge, clips were added, which 
were made to press against the junction of the 
crust and bars, and thus to offer a mechanical 
obstruction to the contraction of the hoof. But 
the friction arising from the elasticity of the 
heels, soon allowing these clips to insinuate 
themselves into the horn, prevented those ad- 
| vantages which were first expected from them ; 
_ and to aid this again the heels of the shoes were 
| now bevelled outwards, so that the hoof, resting 
on this inclined plane, was forced asunder, as it 
were, at every step. 
The frog-bar shoe was next tried ; and this, in its 
various forms, by keeping up continued pressure 
upon the frog, was expected to have the power, 
not only of preventing contraction, and removing 
it when it had taken place, but also of proving a 
complete protection to weak heels, and a preven- 
tive of corns, thrushes, sand-crack, false-quarter, 
canker, and the like. But, instead of affording 
the ease or protection expected from it, it proved 
in many cases a cause of some of the very diseases 
it was intended to prevent. 
The spring-heeled shoe, or the grasshopper, as 
some London veterinarians wittily called it, was 
next tried. This differs from the common shoe 
in being bevelled off towards the heels, on the 
surface next the hoof, from the quarter to the 
extremity of the heel; and at the commencement 
of the slope in the quarter, there is a steel spring, 
welded or rivetted on, and continued to the heel, 
so as to form a continued plane with the surface 
of the hoof. Between the extremity of the spring 
and the thinned part of the heel of the shoe, a 
space of about three-eighths of an inch is left; 
so that when the weight of the posterior part of 
the heel falls on the spring, it is allowed to 
descend, and a degree of liberty is thus afforded. 
“While I agree with the principles upon which 
this shoe is applied,” says Professor Dick, “I do 
not altogether agree with the construction of the 
shoe itself. The advantage to be derived from 
keeping the heel easy, or springing the heel of 
the shoe, has been long known to working far- 
SHOEING. 
SSS ne eel 
211 
riers, and such a process has been found to afford 
relief in many of the evils of the foot. It is 
effected in two ways,—either by bending the 
shoe a little from the hoof at the point of the 
heel, or by cutting away such a portion of the 
horn as to prevent the heel of the shoe and the 
heel of the hoof from coming in contact; and in 
this latter state it will remain, and retain its 
situation, until the proportion of the hoof is 
altered by the progress of growth and the fric- 
tion between the hoof and shoe. Such an adap- 
tation of the common shoe seems to possess all 
the advantages, without the complexity, of the 
spring-heeled shoe, namely, keeping the heels 
easy, assisting in preventing corns, and affording 
liberty and elasticity to the heels; and where, 
from the weakness of the quarters, the common 
shoe cannot be properly supported, it can in 
almost every instance be obtained by the bar- 
shoe. But where the frog is much diseased, and 
both heels and quarters weak, the spring-heeled 
shoe may be found of service.” 
The jointed or expanding shoe came into use 
contemporaneously with the several and succes- 
sive inventions which followed the introduction 
of the seated shoe; and it promised for some 
time to do wonders, but has already passed into 
almost total desuetude. It is either seated or 
concave like the common shoe, and has a joint 
at the toe for permitting the natural expansion of 
the foot. But its nails, if well fixed, render most 
only as a sort of useless hinge ; and, if ill fixed, 
and become loosened, and tend eventually to 
tear portions of the crust away. A really ex- 
panding shoe, on the jointed principle, should 
have many joints, in a series along the sides and 
quarters, and would be at once too complicated, 
too costly, and too frangible for general use. 
The unilateral shoe, or shoe of one-sided nail- 
ing, was invented by Mr. Turner of London, and 
possesses some very decided advantages over 
even the best forms of the concave seated shoe, 
and has already superseded it in many of the 
best forges. It is fastened with five nails along 
one side; and has two clips,—the one in front, 
and the other between the last and the next-last 
nail. “This shoe,” says Youatt, “is identified 
with the grand principle of the expansibility of 
the horse’s foot, and of removing or preventing 
the worst ailments to which the foot of the horse 
is liable. It can be truly stated of it, that while 
it affords to the whole organ an iron defence 
equal to the common shoe, it permits, what the 
common shoe never did or can do, the perfect 
liberty of the foot. There can be no doubt that 
the one-sided nailing has been exceedingly use- 
ful. It has, in many a case that threatened a 
foot, and enabled it to discharge its natural func- 
tions. It has also restored to the foot, even in 
bad cases, a grea deal of its natural formation, 
of it perfectly inflexible, and cause the joint to act | 
occasion special stress on the crust at the holes, | 
serious termination, restored the elasticity of the | 
