Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/513

 friction it experiences on the earth and paved road, and is pressed by the weight of the body into the little cavities and interstices it meets.

'2. By its flexibility, it takes the imprint and the contour, so to speak, of the ground it comes into contact with; so that the foot rests on a greater number of parts, which, mutually assisting each other, multiply the points of support, and thereby give the animal more adherence to the surface on which he moves. We may even say that he acquires a kind of feeling in this part, through its correspondence with the fleshy sole, and from this to the tendon—a feeling that I will not compare with that we experience when we walk with naked feet, but which is yet sufficient to warn him of the counterpoise he ought to give to his body to maintain its equilibrium, and so preserve him from falling, twisting, or stumbling.

'The object of shoeing, by him who first resorted to it, would only be as a preservative and a defence, as much for the wall as for the sole. But he would not add the condition of paring either the one or the other, I do not say to our excess, but in any way whatever, because this would be contrary to his principle, and would destroy his work.

'This precaution (paring) can only be recommended in cases where the horn is rugged, and the shoe does not rest on it everywhere equally, thus opposing its solidity. In such a case it is right, but otherwise it is a contradiction and an absurdity. I have often questioned those amateur horsemen who were particularly careful to have their horses' feet pared, but none of them could demonstrate either its necessity or propriety. . . . The horny sole receives its