Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/706

 supplant the ordinary method if carried out as I have advised; but it will no doubt always remain, like the tip and three-quarter shoe, a valuable accessory mode of defending and preserving the hoof, and remedying its diseases or defects. This view would appear to be gaining ground in Paris, where it was at first employed for every purpose. Its utility has now become better known, and its use is, perhaps, much more limited than it was some time ago.

I need not enter into a discussion in this place as to the advantages or disadvantages of the French mode of ajusture, or curving up the toes of the shoes en bateau. It may be sufficient to state that, for the hind-shoes, it is a grave mistake, as the horse relies greatly on the toes of these feet in propelling himself and he cannot so well make the ground a fixed point, if the sharp edge be rounded upwards. It is scarcely more reasonable when applied to the fore-shoes.

Goodwin, followed by Miles, has founded his recommendation on a very morbid specimen of an os pedis. We do not require abnormal examples to guide us in devising an armature for a healthy organ. Others have pointed out the natural wear as indicated by a worn-out shoe; as well might we have our own new boots and shoes fashioned at the heels and toes exactly like those we can no longer wear. For stumbling horses, shoes of this shape may be useful, but otherwise they should not be employed. In some respects they cause a loss of power to the horse, and at all times the farrier is liable to err in giving too much curve. This not only damages the hoof, but it makes the horse's support less secure. It has been