Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/524

 the horse's foot, exhibiting some improvement in the anatomical details at least, was published by Jeremiah Bridges. After enumerating the various parts of the foot and their characteristics, as they were known in his day, he proceeds to specify the best kinds of hoofs, and in doing so casually informs us, that the horses bred in Derbyshire, the mountainous parts of England and Wales, as well as in the Highlands of Scotland, have good feet; while those reared on low marshy ground, such as the fens of Lincolnshire, have commonly flat and soft feet, arising from the moist soil, which relaxes their texture.

'The best method to keep the foot sound is good shoeing; liberty, sometimes, in pasture; or proper exercise. Standing long in stables contracts the feet.' 'The usefulness of a horse's shoes is too obvious to want many words to explain; they are a guard to the foot.' Among the newer inventions yet spoken of, he enumerates the 'screw shoe.' 'The design of this shoe is to relieve and help nature, by extending the hoof and heels when drawn in or contracted, to remove the causes which obstruct a free and regular circulation, by restoring the parts affected to their proper size and position. This it performs by means of two ridges fixed on the inside of the shoe towards the back part; these pressing gradually and equally on the inside of the hoof, the contracted horny parts are mastered, and give way to the operation of the screw, which opens the heels. This may be forwarded in desperate cases, when the hoof is quite contracted, and the