resinous and greasy mixtures, under the notion of cooling and softening them. Various are the prescriptions recommended for this purpose, many of which are of a quite opposite nature to the purpose intended. There is likewise a great impropriety in stuffing up the hoofs with rotten dung and stale urine: this, it is true, is moisture; but of the very worst kind, on account of the salts contained in the urine, which of itself greatly contributes towards hardening and drying their hoofs, in place of softening them; besides the other bad effects which may arise to the frog, &c., from the rottenness of the dung.

Without commenting upon the various compositions or pompous prescriptions recommended in books, or those handed about as receipts for the softening and stuffing horses' hoofs, we would recommend one which is more natural, and ought not to be despised for its simplicity. This is only to cool and moisten the hoofs with water morning and evening: and, to those who are fond of stuffing, we would prescribe bran and water, or clay, &c. made into the consistency of a poultice; and in particular cases, where horses stand much in the stable, and the hoofs are disposed to be very hard, dry, and brittle, a poultice of this kind, or any other emollient composition in which water is a principal ingredient, may be applied all round the hoof; or, in imitation of some dealers, to keep a puddle of water at the watering place, which will answer equally well, if not better. From this manner of treatment, the hoofs will be preserved in their natural state, and a free and equal perspiration kept up, by which the nourishment natural to the hoof will have free access to its surface; as it is this only which causes that cohesion of the parts which constitutes a firm, sound, and tough hoof.

Horses are shod with iron to defend and preserve their hoofs. As feet differ, so should shoes accordingly. The only system of farriers,' lord Pembroke observes, is to shoe in general with excessive heavy and clumsy ill-shaped shoes, and very many nails, to the total destruction of the foot. The cramps they annex, tend to destroy the bullet; and the shoes made in the shape of a walnut shell prevent the horse's walking upon the firm basis which God has given him for that end, and thereby oblige him to stumble and fall. They totally pare away also and lay bare the inside of the animal's foot with their detestable butteries, and afterwards put on very long shoes, whereby the foot is hindered from having any pressure at all upon the heels; which pressure might otherwise still perchance, notwithstanding their dreadful cutting, keep the heels properly open, and the feet in good order. The frog should never be cut out; but as it will sometimes become ragged, it must be cleaned every now and then, and the ragged pieces pared off with a knife. In one kind of foot indeed a considerable cutting away must be allowed of, but not of the frog: we mean, that very high feet must be cut down to a proper height; because, if they were not, the frog. though not cut, would still be so far above the ground as not to have any bearing upon it, whereby the great tendon must inevitably be damaged, and consequently the horse would go lame.

The weight of shoes must greatly depend on the quality and hardness of the iron. If the iron be very good, it will not bend; and in this case the shoes cannot possibly be made too light: care, however, must be taken, that they be of a thickness so as not to bend; for bending would force out the nails, and ruin the hoof. That part of the shoe which is next the horse's heel, must be narrower than any other; that stones may be thereby prevented from getting under it, and sticking there; which otherwise would be the case; because the iron, when it advances inwardly beyond the bearing of the foot, forms a cavity, wherein stones being lodged would remain, and, by pressing against the foot, lame the horse. The part of the shoe which the horse walks upon should be quite flat, and the inside of it likewise; only just space enough being left next the foot to put in a picker (which ought to be used every time the horse comes into the stable), and also to prevent the shoe's pressing upon the sole. Four nails on each side hold better than a greater number, and keep the hoof in a far better state. The toe of the horse must be cut short, and nearly square (the angles only just rounded off); nor must any nails be driven there: this method prevents much stumbling, especially in descents; and serves, by throwing nourishment on the heels, to strengthen them: on them the horse should in some measure walk, and the shoe be made of a proper length accordingly; by these means, narrow heels are prevented, and many other good effects produced. Many people drive a nail at the toe, but it is an absurd practice. Leaving room to drive one there causes the foot to be of an improper length; and moreover, that part of the hoof is naturally so brittle, that even when it is kept well greased, the nail there seldom stays in, but tears out and damages the hoof.

'In wet, spongy, and soft ground, where the foot sinks in, the pressure upon the heels is of course greater than on hard ground; and so indeed it should be upon all accounts. The hinder feet must be treated in the same manner as the fore ones, and the shoes the same; except ir. hilly and slippery countries, they may not improperly be turned up a little behind; but turning up the fore shoes is of no service, and is certain ruin to the fore legs, especially to the bullets. In descending hills, cramps are apt to throw horses down, by stopping the fore legs, out of their proper basis and natural bearing, when the hinder ones are rapidly pressed; which unavoidably must be the case, and consequently cannot but push the horse upon his nose. them, on a plain surface, a horse's foot is always thrown forwards on his toe, out of its proper bearing, which is very liable to make the horse stumble. The notion of their utility in going up hills is a false one. In ascending, the toe is the first part of the foot which bears on, and takes hold of the ground; and whether the horse draws or carries, consequently the business is done before the part where the cramps are comes to the ground. Ice nails are preferable to any thing to prevent slipping, as also to help horses up hill, the most forward ones taking hold of the ground early, considerably before the heels touch the

With

ground. They must be so made, as to be, when driven in, scarcely half an inch above the shoe, and also have four sides ending at the top in a point. They are of great service to prevent slipping on all kinds of places; and by means of them a horse is not thrown out of his proper basis. They must be made of very good iron; if they are not, the heads of them will be perpetually breaking off. From the race horse to the cart horse, the same system of shoeing should be observed. The size, thickness, and weight of them only should differ. The shoe of a race horse must of course be lighter than that of a saddle horse; that of a saddle horse lighter than that of a coach or bat horse; and these last more so than a cart, waggon, or artillery horse. At present all shoes in general are too heavy; if the iron is good, shoes need not be so thick as they are now generally made. The utmost severi y ought to be inflicted upon all those who clap shoes on hot. This unpardonable laziness of farriers, in making feet thus fit shoes instead of shoes fitting feet, dries up the hoof, and utterly destroys them. Frequent removals of shoes are detrimental, and tear the foot; but sometimes they are very necessary: this is an inconvenience to which half shoes are liable; for the end of the shoe, being very short, is apt to work soon into the foot, and consequently must then be moved.'

In a judicious treatise on this subject, by Mr. Clarke, the common form of shoes, and method of shoeing, are, with great reason, totally exploded, and a new form and method recommended, which seem founded on rational principles, and to have been confirmed by experience.

In preparing the foot for the shoe,' our author observes, the frog, the sole, and the bars or binders, are pared so much that the blood frequently appears. The shoe by its form (being thick on the inside of the rim, and thin upon the outside), must of consequence be made concave or hollow on that side which is placed immediately next the foot, in order to prevent its resting upon the sole. The shoes are generally of an immoderate weight and length, and every means is used to prevent the frog from resting upon the ground, by making the shoe-heels thick, broad, and strong, or raising cramps or caukers on them. From this form of the shoe, and from this method of treating the hoof, the frog is raised to a considerable height above the ground, the heels are deprived of that substance which was provided by nature to keep the crust extended at a proper wideness, and the foot is fixed as it were in a mould.

By the pressure from the weight of the body, and resistance from the outer edges of the shoe, the heels are forced together, and retain that shape impressed upon them, which it is impossible ever afterwards to remove; hence a contraction of the heels, and of course lameness. But farther, the heels, as has been observed, being forced together, the crust presses upon the processes of the coffin and extremities of the nut bone: the frog is confined, and raised so far from the ground, that it cannot have that support upon it which it ought to have: the circulation of the blood is impeded, and a wasting of the frog,

and frequently of the whole foot, ensues. Hence proceed all those diseases of the feet, known by the names of foundered, hoof-bound, narrow heels, running thrushes, corns, high soles, &c.

"I have likewise frequently observed, from this compression of the internal parts of the foot, a swelling of the legs immediately above the hoof, attended with great pain and inflammation, with a discharge of thin, ichorous, fetid matter: from which symptoms, it is often concluded, that the horse is in a bad habit of body (or what is termed a grease falling down), and must therefore undergo a course of medicine, &c. The bad effects of this practice are still more obvious upon the external part of the hoof. The crust towards the toe, being the only part of the hoof free from compression, enjoys a free circulation of that fluid necessary for its nourishment, and grows broader and longer; from which extraor dinary length of toe, the horse stumbles in his going, and cuts his legs. The smaller particles of sand insinuate themselves between the shoe and the heels, which grind them away, and thereby produce lameness. All this is entirely owing to the great spring the heels of the horse must unavoidably have upon the heels of a shoe made in this form.

'This concave shoe in time wears thin at the toe, and, yielding to the pressure made upon it, is forced wider, and of consequence breaks off all that part of the crust on the outside of the nails. Instances of this kind daily occur, inso much that there hardly remains crust sufficient to fix a shoe upon them. It is generally thought that the broader a shoe is, and the more it covers the sole and frog, a horse will travel the better. But, as has been formerly remarked, the broader a shoe is of this form, it must be made the more concave; and, of consequence, the contracting power upon the heels must be the greater. It is likewise to be observed that, by using strong broad-rimmed concave shoes in the summer season, when the weather is hot and the roads very dry and hard, if a horse is obliged to ride fast, the shoes, by repeated strokes or frictions against the ground, acquire a great degree of heat, which is communicated to the internal parts of the foot, and together with the contraction upon the heels, occasioned by the form of the shoe, must certainly cause exquisite pain. This is frequently succeeded by a violent inflammation in the internal parts of the hoof, and is the cause of that disease in the feet, so fatal to the very best of our horses, commonly termed a founder. This is also the reason why horses, after a journey of a hard ride, are observed to shift their feet so frequently and to lie down much. If we attend further to the convex surface of this shoe, and the convexity of the pavement upon which horses walk, it will then be evident, that it is impossible for them to keep their feet from slipping in this form of shoe, especially upon declivities of streets.

'It is also a common practice to turn up the heels of the shoes into what is called cramps or caukers, by which means the weight of the horse is confined to a very narrow surface, viz. the inner round edge of the shoe-rim and the points or caukers of each heel, which soon wear round and blunt; besides, they for the most part are made by far too thick and long. The consequence

is, that it throws the horse forward upon the toes, and is apt to make him slip and stumble. To this cause we must likewise ascribe the frequent and sudden lameness horses are subject to in the legs, by twisting the ligaments of the joints, tendons, &c. I do not affirm that caukers are always hurtful, and ought to be laid aside : on the contrary, I grant that they, or some such like contrivance, are extremely necessary, and may be used with advantage upon flat shoes where the ground is slippery; but they should be made thinner and sharper than those commonly used, so as to sink into the ground, otherwise they will rather be hurtful than of any advantage.

The Chinese are said to account a small foot an ornament in their women, and for that purpose, when young, their feet are confined in small shoes. This, no doubt, produces the desired effect; but must necessarily be very prejudicial to them in walking, and apt to render them entirely lame. This practice, however, very much resembles our method of shoeing horses; for if we looked upon it as an advantage to them to have long feet, with narrow low heels, and supposing we observed no inconvenience to attend, or bad consequence to follow it, we could not possibly use a more effectual means to bring it about than by following the method already described.

"In shoeing a horse, therefore, we should in this, as in every other case, study to follow nature and certainly that shoe which is made of such a form as to resemble as near as possible the natural tread and shape of the foot, must be preferable to any other. But it is extremely difficult to lay down fixed rules with respect to the proper method to be observed in treating the hoofs of different horses: it is equally difficult to lay down any certain rule for determining the precise form to be given their shoes. This will be obvious to every judicious practitioner, from the various constructions of their feet, from disease, and from other causes that may occur; so that a great deal must depend upon the discretion and judgment of the operator, in proportioning the shoe to the foot, by imitating the natural tread, to prevent the hoof from contracting a bad shape. In order, therefore, to give some general idea of what may be thought most necessary in this matter, I shall endeavour to describe that form of shoe and method of treating the hoofs of horses, which from experience I have found most beneficial.

'It is to be remembered that a horse's shoe ought by no means to rest upon the sole, since this it will occasion lameness; therefore it must rest entirely on the crust; and, in order that we may imitate the natural tread of the foot, the shoe must be made flat (if the height of the sole does not forbid it); it must be of an equal thickness all round the outside of the rim. For a draught horse about half an inch thick, and larger in proportion for a saddle horse. And on that part of it which is to be placed immediately next the foot, a narrow rim or margin is to be formed, not exceeding the breadth of the crust upon which it is to rest, with the nail-holes placed exactly in the middle; and from this narrow rim the shoe

is to be made gradually thinner towards its inner edge. See plate FARRIERY, fig. 1.

The breadth of the shoe is to be regulated by the size of the foot, and the work to which the horse is accustomed; but, in general, should be made rather broad at the toe, and narrow towards the extremity of each heel, in order to let the frog rest with freedom upon the ground. The necessity of this has been already shown. The shoe being thus formed, and shaped like the foot, the surface of the crust is to be made smooth, and the shoe fixed on with eight or at most ten nails, the heads of which should be sunk into the holes, so as to be equal with the surface of the shoe. The sole, frog, and bars, as I have already observed, should never be pared, farther than taking off what is ragged from the frog, and any excrescences or inequalities from the sole. And it is very properly remarked by Mr. Osmer, "That the shoe should be made so as to stand a little wider at the extremity of each heel than the foot itself; otherwise as the foot grows in length, the heel of the shoe in a short time gets within the heel of the horse; which pressure often breaks the crust, and produces a temporary lameness, perhaps a corn.' This method of shoeing horses I have followed long before Mr. Osmer's treatise on that subject was published; and for these several years past I have endeavoured to introduce it into practice. But so much are the farriers, grooms, &c., prejudiced in favor of the common method of shoeing and paring out the feet, that it is with difficulty they can even be prevailed upon to make a proper trial of it.

'They cannot be satisfied unless the frog be finely shaped, the sole pared, and the bars cut out, in order to make the heels appear wide. Wide open heels are looked upon as a mark of a sound good hoof. This practice gives them a show of wideness for the time; yet that, together with the concave form of the shoe, forwards the contraction of the heels, which, when confirmed, renders the animal lame for life. In this flat form of shoe, its thickest part is upon the outside of the rim, where it is most exposed to be worn; and being made gradually thinner towards its inner edge, it is therefore much lighter than the common concave shoe: yet it will last equally as long, and with more advantage to the hoof; and as the frog or heel is allowed to rest upon the ground, the foot enjoys the same points of support as in its natural state. It must therefore be much easier for the horse in his way of going, and be a means of making him surer footed. It is likewise evident that, from this shot, the hoof cannot acquire any bad form; when, at the same time, it receives every advantage that possibly could be expected from shoeing. In this respect it may very properly be said, that we make the shoe to the foot, and not the foot to the shoe, as is but too much the case in the concave shoes, where the foot very much resembles that of a cat's fixed into a walnut-shell.

'It is to be observed, that the hoofs of young horses, before they are shoed, for the most part are wide and open at the heels, and that the crust is sufficiently thick and strong to admit of the nails being fixed very near the extremities of each. But, as I have formerly remarked, from

the constant use of concave shoes, the crust of this part of the foot grows thinner and weaker; and when the nails are fixed too far back, especially upon the inside, the horse becomes lame : to avoid this, they are placed more towards the fore part of the hoof. This causes the heels of the horse to have the greater spring upon the heels of the shoe, which is so very detrimental as to occasion lameness; whereas, by using this flat form of shoe, all these inconveniences are avoided; and if the hoofs of young horses, from the first time that they were shoed, were conti-, nued to be constantly treated according to the method here recommended, the heels would always retain their natural strength and shape. By following this flat method of shoeing, and manner of treating the hoofs, several horses now under my care, that were formerly tender footed, and frequently lame, while shoed with broad concave shoes, are now quite sound, and their hoofs in as good condition as when the first shoes were put upon them. In particular the horse that wore the broad concave shoes, from which the drawings of figs. 2 and 3 were taken, now goes perfectly sound in the open narrow kind of shoes, as represented figs. 1 and 4.

'If farriers considered attentively the design of shoeing horses, and would take pains to make themselves acquainted with the anatomical structure of the foot, they would then be convinced that this method of treating the hoofs, and this form of shoe, is preferable to that which is so generally practised.

'It has been alleged that, in this form of shoe, horses do not go so well as in that commonly used. This objection will easily be laid aside, by attending to the following particulars. There are but few practitioners that can or will endeavour to make this sort of shoe as it ought to be. The iron, in forming it, does not so easily turn into the circular shape necessary as in the common shoe; and perhaps this is the principal reason why farriers object to it, especially where they work much by the piece. And, as many horses that are commonly shoed with concave shoes have their soles considerably higher than the crust, if the shoe is not properly formed, or if it be made too flat, it must unavoidably rest upon the sole and occasion lameness. The practice of paring the sole and frog is also prevalent, and thought so absolutely necessary that it is indiscriminately practised, even to excess, on all kinds of feet: and while this method continues to be followed, it cannot be expected that horses can go upon hard ground (on this open shoe) with that freedom they would do if their soles and frogs were allowed to remain in their full natural strength. Experience teaches us that, in very thin-soled shoes, we feel an acute pain from every sharp-pointed stone we happen to tread upon. Horses are sensible of the same thing in their foot, when their soles, &c., are pared too thin. Hence they who are prejudiced against this method, without ever reflecting on the thin state of the sole, &c. are apt to condemn it, and draw their conclusions more from outward appearances than from any reasoning or knowledge of the structure of the parts. From a due attention likewise to the structure of a horse's foot in

a natural state, it will be obvious, that paring away the sole, frog, &c., must be hurtful, and in reality is destroying that substance provided by nature for the defence of the internal parts of the foot: from such practice it must be more liable to accidents from hard bodies, such as sharp stones, nails, glass, &c. From this consideration we shall likewise find, that a narrow piece of iron, adapted to the shape and size of the foot, is the only thing necessary to protect the crust from breaking or wearing away the sole &c., require no defence if never pared.

"There is one observation I would farther make, which is, that the shoe should be made of good iron, well worked, or what smiths call hammer-hardened, that is, beaten all over lightly with a hammer when almost cold. The Spaniards and Portuguese farriers use this practice greatly, insomuch that many people, who have seen them at work, have reported that they form their horses shoes without heating them in the fire as we do. It is well known, that heating of iron till it is red softens it greatly; and when shoes thus softene l are put upon horses' feet, they wear away like lead. But when the shoes are well hammered, the iron becomes more compact, firm, and hard; so that a well-hammered shoe, though made considerably lighter, yet will last as long as one that is made heavier; the advantage of which is obvious, as the horse will move his feet with more activity, and be in less danger of cutting his legs. The common concave shoes are very faulty in that respect; for, in fitting or shaping them to the foot, they require to be frequently heated, in order to make them bend to the unequal surface. which the hoof acquires from the constant use of these shoes: they thereby become soft; and to attempt to harden them by beating or hammering, when they are shaped to the foot, would undo the whole. But flat shoes, by making them, when heated, a little narrower than the foot, will, by means of hammering become wider, and acquire a degree of elasticity and firmness which it is necessary they should have, but impossible to be given them by any other means whatever; so that any farrier, from practice, will soon be able to judge, from the quality of the iron, how much a shoe, in fitting it to the circumference of the hoof, will stretch by hammering when it is almost cold; this operation, in fitting flat shoes, will be the less difficult, when it is considered, that as there are no inequalities on the surface of the hoof (or at least ought not to be) which require to be bended thereto, shoes of this kind only require to be made smooth and flat; hence they will press equally upon the circumference or crust of the hoof, which is the natural tread of a horse.'

Mr. St. Bel, the first professor appointed at the Veterinary College, London, constructed a shoe different from the common style, in being somewhat convex on that side which is placed in contact with the horse's foot, but considerably so on that surface which is presented to the ground. On this plan, the horses sent for shoeing to the college were for some time shod; and it cannot be denied, that if every horse so sent had had the advantage of a perfectly natural hoof, Mr. St. Bel's shoe might have been found

worthy the name of an improvement, since its formation was certainly adapted to what the shape of the horse's foot naturally is, and ought to be, if the farriers would permit. See fig. 5. As the case was otherwise, however, in a great majority of instances, many who had sanguine expectations from the invention, were disappointed. Nevertheless this shoe has its advantages, which are set forth at large, by the author in a 4to. volume on the subject, to which we refer the reader.

Taplin recommends a form of a shoe, which differs little from that of Mr. St. Bel, except that it is broader in the rim, and concave where the other is convex on the side next the foot. See fig. 6. He advises that the shoe should be uniformly supported by the hoof only, entirely round the foot, and brought so regularly into contact, that it should not press more upon one part than another. It should also be formed with a concave inner surface to keep it perfectly clear of the sole, that the point of the picker may occasionally pass under the inner part of the web, to free it from every extraneous substance. The shoe should not be made too wide in the web, or too weighty in the metal; and the heel of the shoe should always rather exceed the termination of the hoof behind, and be formed something wider than the heel itself.'

Some modern authors, particularly Osmer, instead of attempting to improve the horse-shoe, propose to lay aside the use of it altogether, for which they are severely censured by Mr. Taplin. They seem,' says he, extravagantly fond of an idea, borrowed from antiquity, of the practicability of horses travelling the road, and doing their constant work, without any shoeing at all.' Osmer insists, that horses are adequate to their different services in a state of nature, without the officious obtrusions of art;' venturing to affirm that they will travel even upon the turnpike roads about London without injury to their feet!' As Mr. Taplin, however, observes, such an economical plan may be admirably calculated for the theoretical journey of some literary speculatist, but no such excursion can take place of any duration, without material injury to the hoof.'

dened and thick; and, if the horse happens to tread on a hard and rough body, the inconvenience is but momentary, and the pain will make him remove his foot, so as to prevent mischief.

Common shoeing is very liable to produce corns by the hoofs spreading out, and leaving the shoe in close contact with the sole, where it acts as a fixed point, and will not allow the elasticity of the insensible sole to act. The nails of the shoe should not be placed near the heels; for it disposes the heel to contract, especially when the bars are cut away. The narrow shoe has another advantage. The horse is less likely to slip than with the broad one, on any ground on which the foot makes an impression. But it would not perhaps be quite so proper for horses always treading on a pavement, such as the streets of London; nor for horses that are calculated for heavy draught, such as dray or cart horses, which require not only a stouter shoe, but also to be turned up behind, in order to resist the descent of heavy loads in passing down a hill, &c.

Fig. 8 represents Mr. Coleman's shoe, the principle of which rests not only on the advantages attending the exposure of the horny sole, but likewise on an objection to which all shoes are liable that require to be nailed all round, as in common instances. The nails at the quarters form so many fixed points, and prevent that expansion which is natural to the hoof in consequence of its growth; and the effect of this confinement is that of contracting the whole foot, and particularly the heel; to which many of the diseases of that part may be attributed. In Mr. Coleman's shoe this material objection seems to be removed; for it requires to be fixed to the wall of the foot only by a few nails at the toe, which leaves the growth of the quarters entirely to take their natural direction.

Almost every veterinary professor has his favorite shoe: one of the most ingenious of the present day is endeavouring to force on our notice, and introduce into our stables, the French method; which, with the exception of the mode of nailing on, White observes, is the very worst he ever saw. The French shoe, fig. 9 (a), has a wide web towards the toe; is concave above and convex below (b), on the ground surface, by which neither the toe nor heel touch the ground; but the horse stands pretty much in the same way as an unhappy cat, shod by unlucky boys with walnut shells.

The improved shoe for general use, fig. 10, which Mr. Loudon recommends, is rather wider than what is usually made. 'Its nail holes (a) extend no further towards the heels than is actually necessary for security; by which the expansion of these parts is encouraged, and contraction is avoided. To strengthen the attachment, and to make up for this liberty given to the heels, the nails shouldi be carried round the front of the shoe (r). The nail holes, on the under or ground surface of the shoe (a) are usually formed in a gutter, technically called the fullering; but in the case of heavy treading powerful horses, this gutter may be omitted; or, if adopted, the shoe in that part may be steeled. The web should be