Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/567

 common shoe used in the country is somewhat convex, and the inward rim of the shoe comes first on the ground: the consequence of this is, that the weight, instead of being borne fairly on the crust, is supported by the nails and the clenches.' 'Shoeing,' he says, 'has entailed on the animal some evils. It has limited or destroyed the beautiful expansibility of the lower part of the foot; it has led to contraction, although that contraction has not always been accompanied by lameness; in the most careful fixing of the best shoe, and in the careless manufacture and setting on of the bad one, much injury has often been done to the horse.' The web or cover of the seated shoe was to be sufficiently wide to guard the sole from bruises, and as wide at the heel as the frog would permit, in order to cover the seat of corn. The shoe was to be fastened on with nine nails—five on the outside, and four on the inner side; though for small hoofs seven might suffice. The inside part of the foot surface of the shoe was to be levelled off, or made concave, so that it might not press upon the sole. 'Notwithstanding our iron fetter, the sole does, although to a very inconsiderable extent, descend when the foot of the horse is put on the ground. It is unable to bear constant or even occasional pressure, and if it came in contact with the shoe, the sensible sole, between the horny sole and the coffin-bone, would be bruised, and lameness would ensue. Many of our horses, from too early and undue work, have the natural concave sole flattened, and the disposition to descend and the degree of descent are thereby increased.' 'The web of the shoe is likewise of that thickness, that when the foot is properly pared, the prominent part of the frog