Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/609

 not appear manifest, for already several of my confrères have thought that the foot must be constrained by the little bar of iron that constitutes the shoe. To convince them that this is not so, it is sufficient to take the branches of the shoe in both hands, and to separate or push them together, when it will be found that they yield to pressure. In operating in the same manner by the pressure of the thumbs against the branches of the sole, the hands being joined around the hoof, I have also remarked and demonstrated to others the elasticity of the shoe, which follows the movements, dilatation, and contraction of the heels: the animal's weight, in coming upon the foot in every part, produces on it, as on the wall itself, the effect of a wedge driven into a piece of wood. All that can be said against my shoe is its too great elasticity when it is worn thin. In striking on the pavement it may spread out from the heels, inconvenience the animal, or break. I remedy this trifling inconvenience by making the last hole as far back as possible.

'For saddle horses, for those of light draught, and for all those chevaux de luxe, or of agriculture, which do not work very severely, this shoeing will certainly prove a great benefit.

'It only remains to be seen if it will sufficiently resist the repeated and excessively fatiguing journeys performed by the horses in public conveyances, and especially those omnibus horses which travel on the bad pavement of Paris.

'For the first case, placed as I am, I am already in a position to be able to solve the question. Numerous experiments are being made with the horses of the