PODOPHTHORA;

OR,

THE DEMONSTRATION OF A PERNICIOUS DEFECT IN THE
PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON SHOE.

The preceding notices of the foot having now placed us in a con-
dition easily to apprehend the results of the following experiments in
illustration of the shoeing, previously to entering upon them, we
believe it may be well just to remark, that for a period of more than
a thousand years has the present mode of shoeing been in use, with-
out the public being at all aware that there was any thing wrong or
injurious about it, if it was but properly executed; and though
accidents, and unequivocal expressions of suffering accompanied it
continually, and were visible to the eye of every one, yet no one
ventured to think upon a subject that appeared so abstruse; or if he
did, was it likely to be received but with rebuff and insolence : and the
mischiefs arising from it were constantly evaded or denied, and were
attempted to be overcome in every way but the proper and natural
one,�that of removing the cause,�-which cause also was, to the
simple as to the more knowing ones, alike unperceived. And many
has been the bribe,, bestowed through timid fear and apprehension,
to encourage the workman " to shoe his horse well," without the
donor at all entertaining any fixed notion of what that " good
shoeing" should consist in; for it is lamentably true that the mere
labourer in any art may practice it all his life long, and that for cen-
turies he may exercise it without his once entering a single step into

its principles : a bricklayer, for instance, may lay bricks to the day
of his death, and his successors in like manner, without ever in the
least comprehending one single principle of architecture; but that the
events which daily occurred in this art did not awaken men to a sense
of something being fundamentally wrong in all this time, is a most
surprising fact. For, as we have said, a thousand years have passed
over without the true principles of the art being at all discovered, or
that there was a gross defect in the very fundamental part of it, and
which had been a source of animal suffering and misery, that cer-
tainly has no parallel in the world ! And it was quite unlikely also
any remedy should be found out, whilst the true cause of the evil
remained undetected.

For let whatever will be said about these effects being known of
the shoe, it is clear, from the readiness with which people consent
to have their horses shod at any age, on the first summons of the
breaker-in of the horse, that they view the shoe merely as protecting
the foot, and are not aware of its insidious effects ; nor do they after-
wards exhibit the least jealousy or anxiety about it, but would rather,
as we often observe, treat the proposition of its removal as a piece of
inhumanity.

If what we have stated respecting the nature of the horse's foot
be true, the effect of the shoe will be almost presumed without any
demonstrative evidence ; but as reasoning may easily err, and imagi-
nation lead us astray, still the actual experiment, if truly related, will
ever stand as plain matter of fact, that can neither err nor be denied;
and the course of the experiment will also unfold a variety of matter
for reflection respecting the foot, which would not properly attach to
any thing we have heretofore noticed. We proceed, therefore, to the
consideration of this first experiment on the effects of the shoe, in
which the public, as far as they are interested in this important in-
quiry, and especially myself, are greatly indebted to the obliging
conduct of George Hobson, Esq., both in providing the subject, and
in allowing the mare on all proper occasions to be brought for exami-

nation, and the prosecution of these experiments ; for next in every
state to man himself in public utility will be what respects the ser-
vices and true knowledge of this animal, and how we can best obtain
those services, and prolong the period of them.

The assertion, at first, may appear singular to those who have not
investigated these matters with a close attention, or viewed the chain
of connexion of these things from the beginning of the services of
the animal to his final termination at the slaughter-house, through
the different periods of his rapidly-destructive course ; but is never-
theless true, that the shoeing it is, with its multifarious train of
consequences, that for the most part has been the root of so many
evils to the horse and to mankind, not only by its immediate operation
on the structure of the foot, but by its entailed consequences in the
use of him, which is so often rendered unsatisfactory, vexatious, and
dangerous through it: and these errors, we may observe, in the
management of the feet, are ever visited with unmerited punishment
upon the animal himself, in order to do away, if possible, or overcome
its effects, by exciting other feelings, though for the most part in vain;
and it is principally from this also, that the vehicles for draught are
filled with all our best saddle horses, as they cannot longer ride
them on account of this tenderness of the feet, and by which, after
a most painful and miserable existence, they terminate their lives at a
comparatively early stage, often before the half of their natural term
is expended, and with an immense loss to the public, setting aside all
considerations of humanity, which, for certain reasons, we purposely
exclude from this part of our labours.

No inquiry respecting shoeing would at all be necessary if our
horses invariably went well, and with a firm and proper step ; but
the case being remarkably otherwise, an inquiry becomes necessary
into the cause of this general defect, that the real cause of the evil
being understood, the proper remedy may be sought out.

By many it would be naturally expected, that from Newmarket, where
wealth, learning often, and horses, go hand in hand, would proceed

the best intelligence on these subjects; but not one ray of light has
ever yet emanated from this school; but we hope, now the barrier is
broken down that impeded the course to this knowledge, prospects may
brighten, and it may become more productive in this respect. For
it is indeed but too true, that knowledge in these affairs is not to be
attained by stable cant, or " the motley phrase that defies the matter,"
but by patient research and labour, as it is in all the other arts and
sciences, and by which alone these difficulties and obscurities can be
removed. We believe the present jockey-system of knowledge re-
specting these animals must greatly change before a true system for
obtaining the utmost speed of the horse can be attained; and this,
we apprehend, will one day be done without the extreme distress
that now accompanies it; and certainly great advantages and per-
fections may be derived at present from the elucidations respecting
their feet, already given, and this art is likely soon to become an art
that all may understand, in principle and practice.*

We now propose to enter upon the details of this important expe-
riment, by which the nature of shoeing can be illustrated; and for
this purpose refer the reader back to pages 20 and 21 for what has
been already given respecting it; where it was stated, that a beau-

* And one thing, we think, is very certain, which is, that their plate shoe, as they
call it, is not the shoe for a race-horse to do his best in, but has many disadvantages
when all the circumstances of the case are taken into consideration, and is an especial
folly in wet weather, or where the turf is deep and spungy, and a very uneasy shoe at
all times. In pursuing lightness they have lost sight, or not known, other circumstances
necessary in a well reasoned horse-shoe for this purpose, that is, taking into view all the
circumstances of the case. And as to reasoning, we may plainly see that nothing of
the kind has ever been employed upon it, or could have been, under nearly a state of
total ignorance of every circumstance attending the question. Extent of surface in the
shoe (cover, as it is mistakenly termed) is an unquestionable advantage carried to a cer-
tain extent, not only by presenting more bearing surface, but by not sinking in too much:
but without much enlarging here on the advantages of this extension of bearing surface,
we may refer the reader to the reasoning used in the figure given to the Expansion
shoe.�Description of the Expansion Shoe, 2nd Edit. London, 1827.

tiful young blood mare, the property of George Hobson, Esq., of
Harley Street, Cavendish Square, was sent to my forge to be shod;
and this circumstance, I may here observe, happened to take place in
a most extraordinary manner, about a Week or ten days after my
mind had been strongly impressed that it was the shoe itself that
occasioned so much mischief, from the nails sticking fast in the iron,
and too strongly girting the hoof; and it also occurred shortly after
that the truth or falsity of this opinion could be rendered expert
mentally demonstrable^ if a fit subject could be found with a tolerably
good natural foot; when in the remarkable manner above-mentioned
was presented this mare; for right well I knew the obloquy that
would attend the giving forth such an opinion or assertion as this, if
the proof were wanting to support it, and that it Would most probably
do harm also instead of good to the cause it was meant to advance,
the cause of this worthy animal, and of that truth that is his right;
but which opinion, if established, must one day infallibly produce a
great revolution in the practice of shoeing, and lead also to an
amelioration of the general treatment of the animal.

In the former edition, the matter of this experiment was often in-
terrupted to bring in details respecting the foot: in this edition these
will be nearly excluded, which we hope may contribute to give a
greater force to the circumstances of the experiment.

A twelvemonth having elapsed from the taking of the first cast or
impression, I was desirous of seeing what change had been effected
by these iron measures* and proceeded, June 13, 1805, to take a
second cast, being exactly a year and nine days after the application
of the shoe. During the whole of this period the shoeing smiths,
who were as steady men to the full as any others in their line of
employ, were left to the practice of their own art without the small-
est interference or controul on my part. They were aWare of the
east being taken from the foot, and were not less careful on that
account in their attentions in shoeing her. And irt plate 8 is seen a
representation by the same eminent artist, Thomas Milton, (grand-

child of our noble Poet's brother,) of the second cast from the foot
of this mare.

Let us now mark with precision the differences that have taken
place, and see what have been the effects of fixing the foot without
intermission, for a period of twelve months, to an inflexible iron ring,
for such is briefly the fact with respect to the nature of the shoe, by
whatever name it may be called ; for the word shoe has also had its
fascination in concealing its effects, by bringing to our view the com-
forts we derive from our own shoes made of leather, and elastic to
the foot, to which, neither in the material of which it is made, or in
the mode of its application, has it the smallest correspondence; of
such force are names that mere chance often confers on things in
blinding our views of their actual nature.

The original state and. proportions of the foot being before us, and
perfectly preserved {vide Frontispiece, or PL 1,) we are enabled to make
an exact comparison of its former and present condition ; a dimi-
nution of volume throughout is strikingly manifest, but more so in
the elastic parts. A mechanical hardness marks the appearance of
it, in place of the flowing, easy outlines observable in the original.
The evident competency of the parts to their respective offices, which
the eye recognizes in the former, is done away in this; and such is the
general diminution of the foot, that actual lameness would naturally
be supposed the effect of so much alteration unless explained; for
this does not take place for the following reasons; that the parts
have suffered their alterations slowly, and, from being in their nature
yielding and elastic, have given way to the effect of the shoe, as far
as the diminution extends at present, without much resistance ; and
above all, that during the application of the shoe, the parts that have
most suffered are not called into action, nor are their uses required,
so that the foot by degrees assumes a new sort of existence, and gra-
dually adapts itself, as much as a living part can do, to the effects of
the iron circle, and cannot afterwards well do without it.

We now examine the nature and extent of these changes wrought

PL- <9

THE SAME FOOT (UFTEK TWELTE MOWTHS SHOEIHi!

, <

Pu&.byB.CZ&r/c ^///-/'/// J~tre&�Jar?u.ar. -�.J8J

'on Jet

by the shoe; first observing, that in our drawing away this second
impression, we were surprised to find with how much greater force it
was held and came away from the foot than the former cast did, and
as immediately appeared from certain alterations that had taken place
in the relative situation of the parts of the foot, as the slanting sur-
faces of the bars and frog had now assumed a more perpendicular
direction.

The furch bulbs, a and b, suffering with the furch, have lost their
noble, swelling, rounded, figure and appearance, and the surface they
now are seen to present is an ugly, flat slope, towards the base or
cleft of this organ. And this has not been the effect altogether of
the compressing power of the shoe, but has been occasioned by the
senseless cuttings and carvings of the knives of the smiths. And
though the representation in the plate does not reach it, it is probably
accompanied also with a withering and diminution of the internal
bulbs or resilient globes, from the compression of the cartilages, and
by condensation or absorption, or both.

The extent or space between the inflexural columns, from one
to the other, was, in the original state of the foot, somewhat more
than four inches; in the second cast it measured scarcely three.
The foot across its widest part, viz., at its greatest swell at the
quarters, measured in the original cast nearly five inches and a half;
in the second cast, only four inches and seven eighths. The actual
length of the foot, we may remark, is not materially changed, which
seems to confirm the circumstance, that the cause operating these
effects had been lateral principally, and consequently serves to evince
its having been chiefly the effect of the nails.

The furch had lost, through its being wasted by compression, and
the cuttings of the smiths, the rounded useful swelling and projection
we had distinguished by the name of the Cushion ; and although its
substance was so much diminished, still its lower surface was lower
by nearly one fourth of an inch than the inflexural columns or wall;
for it may be recollected in the account we gave of the furch under

fig.jh

PI. J

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"yd&E&rardrVe?.

JUi. %yB. CZarJc. ffi/frfitrSiree-Z. Sa.7t.U0JO.

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the chapter on Frog-pressure, that this part was then three eighths
of an inch higher, or within this level. The sole appeared somewhat
more arched or cupped than formerly, but the degree of thickening
it had undergone, as also the elasticity it had lost, could not be
accurately ascertained in the living subject. '

Thus we see the beautiful and useful symmetry of nature's mould,
no part of which is without its use, has been changed by artificial
restraint to deformity and incompetence. Many there are who have
contributed unnecessarily to the obscurity of these cases by con-
founding them with, or supposing them the effects of standing in the
stable, which has served to blind their eyes to the effects of the shoe,
and on which account, in a future page, to set things in a more clear
light, we shall give proof enough from actual experiment, that how-
ever inimical to the feet the stable may be, it is wholly incapable of
producing such powerful effects as these, which can be shown most
convincingly in two ways, viz., by shoeing, and turning the horse to
grass, when the same effects will ensue ; and also by keeping a horse
unshod in the stable, which we have for years done, when no effects
of this kind have taken place. The worst cases of contraction also,
we may observe, are with stage horses that have but little oppor-
tunity, unfortunately for them, of standing in the stable, being almost
continually on the road.

Also our views formerly, on observing these obviously-glaring cases
of contraction, were used to be confined to the heels only, and the
mischief was attributed, as we have stated, to some natural deficiency
of the foot, to bad shoeing, as it was called, to bevelling the heels of
the shoe too much, or to the want of pressure on the frog, or other
causes of this sort; and immediately followed propositions for the
futile task of expanding the heels again by frog-pressure, without in
the least guessing at the source of the evil; and, with the same in-
tention, the smiths would have recourse to cutting away the arch of the
commissure, expecting, vainly enough, that the heels would then fly
open ! but which drying, contracting, and often cracking, served only

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extrwrdinurlfy diminiflied 7/PV.Il'ie.Secls rcniarleahly fimlc.

IF. Sanfbm* /aril"Sculp.

to increase the mischief,�the attempt at expanding feet so contracted
having cost us more attention and expense than almost any other
part of our studies and labours respecting the horse, we shall give
the general result of them on some future occasion. Indeed it was
in making those fruitless attempts that we were first led to see the
true nature of the evil; for it is singular, that those views of con-
tracted heels were not at all accompanied with any right apprehension
of the true cause and origin of the mischief; that it is very possible
to see without perceiving things most obvious, and to perceive and
yet not fully understand; so difficult is it to overcome preconceived
notions which w^re doubt not the truth of, or entertain that which our
suspicions are not awakened to ; and obscure and repulsive are the
paths which lead to light.

Seen by itself, there are many now who would deny there was any
contraction at all in the foot, tab. 8 ; and more would say it was not
of the smallest consequence, because they had been used to see feet
much more contracted; and as far as it extends at present, it will
not be so much felt as to be made sensible, by external indications at
least, while the shoe is used, the animal being patient and courageous
in bearing any necessary pain. But that a defect, of an injurious
nature to the foot, exists, can be proved even here; for by experi-
ments in similar cases we have found, that by taking off the shoe,
and using the foot only a few miles on the road, it will acquire con-
siderable heat, and be inflamed in a way that would not, in the
smallest degree, have taken place in the natural foot; and arising, as
appears, from a deficiency of the elastic parts of the foot, which by
pressure, or want of use, or both, have been condensed or absorbed,
and their uses being again called for in this experiment, for the well-
being and ease of the foot, painful sensations and inflammation are
created by the want of them. For it is not from external resistance,
as would at first appear, that this pain arises, for this resistance, it is
evident, will be more complete when the shoe is on the foot, but from

b 2

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1800. F o.

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efforts at expansion of the different parts of the hoof, which the loss
of the elastic parts does not permit.

Five years of unrestrained growth have perfected this foot beyond
what is generally seen at the commencement of shoeing, which usually
takes place on the second, third, or fourth year of the horse, and
before the foot is nearly unfolded or grown to its size; so that the
great change that is here observable is more strongly manifested than
it would be in ordinary cases of shoeing; and the foot cannot be ex-
pected to exhibit differences so great and conspicuous in succeeding
years as in the first, there being less of elastic matter to act upon.
Nevertheless every year will have its effects, and will bring the hoof
in closer approximation to the coffin-bone; and at length we shall
see that a partial diminution of the bone itself will be the con-
sequence, with other derangements of its accompanying parts.

The horse, we may remark, like other large animals, is slow in
acquiring maturity, and, like them, is not very short-lived. Some
celebrated writers have considered the natural period of his life about
fifty years. This was before the art of shoeing commenced, and may
be not far from the truth in those times. If we were to give an
opinion on this matter, we should state it as our belief, that he
acquires his stature or height at about Jive years, but obtains his full
bulk and strength about the eighth year; and this period, as in most
other animals, if multiplied by four, will give somewhere about the
period of his natural life; which, without any desire of unnaturally
extending, would be from thirty-two to forty; * and at the former
age we have seen (setting aside the state of his feet) horses capable

* Vivunt annis quidem quinquagenis : femina? minori spatio.�Plin. lib. 8, c. 42.

Gignunt annis ad quadragesimum.�Plin.

There is a cart-horse on the canal, near Warrington, 63 years old, to be seen at
the Bear in Lutford.�Liverpool Advertiser. Also a hunter near Amersham, in Buck-
inghamshire, 52 years old, that was never out of the gentleman's hands who bred him.

of a great deal of service. But what we wish to remark is, that
frequent visits to the slaughter-house, a useful school, but not much
frequented, have led us to observe and conclude, that six arrive there
before, to one after the fourteenth year! for they so early become
cripples through the injuries of their feet, that it is found most
advantageous to the interests of those who get these kind of horses
that are daily becoming tenderer, to " use them up" by the severest
measures, and most unnatural usage, rather than to endeavour to
prolong their labours by preserving them; and there is no want of
supply through the causes above described, at least principally; and
it deserves a closer attention from the public than it has ever yet re-
ceived ; for men, as we have before observed, have been really afraid
to look into these things about horses, as though their affairs were
somehow clothed in fearful and impenetrable mysteries.

Let us now quit these considerations for a more close view of the
nature of the shoe, and how it produces these effects.

The first and most obvious evil of it will be its permanent appli-
cation and constant pressure against the bottom of the foot, with a
force altogether indefinite, depending on the strength with which the
nails are clenched, and the proximity of the shoe to the sole, which
causes it to act with more or less violence against the lower surface
of the coffin bone. Next, the nails in the sides of the hoof, being
immoveably blocked in the perforations of the shoe, create a solid
resistance of iron at this part, not admitting the natural expansion of
the hoof; and it must be obvious that they almost, though not
entirely, prevent, by keeping the quarters fixed, every movement of
the posterior parts and heels. To obviate this, the nails have been
placed as much as may be in the front parts of the foot and shoe,
though in reality it was not so much the intention of those who
recommended this mode of shoeing, to remove the nails from those
parts on this account, as from their being occupied with the mistaken
idea of the necessity of pressure on the frog; and to obtain this, the
shoe was directed to be made very thin or low at the heels, (as in the

shoes of Lafosse and Coleman,) that by the ground meeting the frog,
it might force open and expand the heels ; and the nails were in
reality not inserted in the posterior parts of the foot, in order to give
an opportunity for this apprehended operation of the frog. In
examining the structure and relative situation of the frog, we have
seen how little probability there is, that this softer and more retiring
part of the foot could be designed by nature for any such office;
much less then could it operate with any effect after the nails had in
any manner restrained the natural movement and dilatation of the
wall. Indeed, the want of success attending all attempts to bring
this shoe into actual practice formerly, as well as in these days, suffi-
ciently shows that the doctrine was unsound, though where the defect
lay did not before clearly appear.

The feet of horses that have been shod with the low-heeled shoe,
we have remarked, have been kept very open by it; yet those who
have used it have after a while almost universally abandoned it, pre-
ferring the usual methods of shoeing with a level or thick-heeled
shoe, nailed along the sides of the foot. This change, we apprehend,
they were induced to make from experiencing a degree of sensation
and tenderness after much exercise with this sort of shoe; proceeding,
perhaps, as might indeed be expected, from the unequal bearing and
pressure on the posterior parts of the foot, which such a shoe would
inevitably occasion, and also from the strain and distension which the
back sinews would suffer from a shoe lowered at the heels; for in
order to be indulgent, it ought rather to be raised than lowered, as
is the case with our own shoes, the heels of which are always made
thicker than any other part, and for the same obvious reason. For
with calkins I observe horses almost invariably go the best; and
which I was led into the discovery of by turning them up for frost,
having been before rather prejudiced against it.

Though subject to the inconveniences above mentioned, a thin-
heeled shoe will be perhaps the least injurious to the structure of the
horse's foot of any of the rigid nailed shoes ; and if applied or adopted

with more correct views than those of producing pressure on the
frog, it might perhaps be rendered much more useful than it has ever
heretofore been ; and particularly to young and growing feet, where
it may be resorted to with obvious advantage, if no better means for
protecting the foot can be devised.*

Nor are we disposed to attribute the open condition of the foot
when this sort of shoe is used, to pressure on the frog; the cause
usually assigned, except in a very subordinate degree : we should
rather consider it as arising from the opportunity which this sort of
shoe affords to the oblique surface of the bars themselves to come in
contact with the ground: these, by their structure and direction,
sloping downwards and outwards, present interiorly a more solid and
proper surface to the ground than the frog, for dilating the posterior
parts of the foot. The frog, it will be obvious, also contributes its
share, though in an. inferior degree, admitting rather of these move-

* To make this sort of shoe answer best the purposes designed, we apprehend it
should be made of steel properly tempered, and not of iron, as it may thus be made
thinner and lighter, and be even more durable than with iron: it also might, from its
thinness, be in part or wholly let into the hoof in front, so as not to disturb the natural
course of bearing of the foot on the ground. And as to Lafosse, and all those who
followed his frog-squeezing notions, they never arrived beyond this idea, that as the
foot was contracted, and apprehending that it proceeded from want of pressure on the
frog, they thought that it was necessary to use as much pressure on the frog as pos-
sible to prevent it; and the shoe was lowered at the heels for this purpose, that it
might operate the better in letting this pressure take place : and it is singular, that
satisfied and absorbed in this apprehension of their's, they were never carried to the
true source of the evil, nor did this apprehension lead them to a knowledge of the
elastic actions or expansive properties of the foot, which is quite a different view of the
subject, and leads to different results in the shoeing, viz., to a shoe with a motion, or a
removeable shoe, the one which is necessary to the latter doctrine, but which never did
in any instance occur to Lafosse, or any of his followers, under the former impressions,
proof enough of the difference which, when known and fully understood, to some may
appear but small; yet the' want of that little difference has been the cause of unspeak-
able torment to the horses. And the mischief to the horses and to the public that these
colleges, as they are called, have done in reviving this stupid old doctrine of Lafosse, is
almost incalculable : wherever I go, I still see its abominable effects.

ments than producing them; for we must not be misled by the
appearance which this part makes in shod feet, as it always hangs
considerably lower than it will be found to do in the full-formed good
natural foot, But the preservation of the form of the foot by this
kind of shoe, is to be attributed more than to either of these causes,
to the almost perfect liberty in which the quarters or sides of the
foot are left by the non-insertion of nails into them; the weight of
the body then maintaining the movement of the hoof, which will
preserve entire the figure of the foot.

This discussion on the shoe is rather a digression from the object
of our present inquiry; belonging chiefly to a subsequent chapter of
this work, where we shall consider the different shoes, and the reasons
of their preference : here we propose alone to consider the cause of
the mischievous effects of the shoe.

The nails driven by violent hammering into the square perforations
of the shoe, are lodged therein so firmly as to form with it a solid
mass, wholly preventing any movement of the hoof at the parts
where they enter, and at some distance from them; the quarters
being held in this fixed state, the rest of the hoof is also robbed of
that motion which is necessary for the healthy existence of the foot:
being thus held for months, and even years, in a constrained state, it
becomes stiff and inelastic, then diminishes in size, and a train of
effects ensue which we shall more fully consider hereafter.

This elastic movement and dilatation of the hoof will admit of
being not inaptly exhibited by comparison with the ordinary move-
ments of a bow for shooting arrows, having under the weight of the
animal an evident motion of this kind. Bows also are brought, we
believe, from the eastern parts of the world, which are occasionally
seen in the museums of the curious, and whose ends or extremities
are inflected, or turned inwards towards the centre of the bow, and
afford a further illustration of the structure of the wall of the horse's
hoof. It is clear also, that if a bow be firmly confined at one or
more points along its extremities, it will lose the power of motion,

and become more or less perfectly fixed, as these points are more
numerous, or are placed at a greater distance from the centre of the
bow. And the nails, by passing through a perfectly inflexible iron
ring into the hoof, will make the hoof as inflexible as itself, accom-
panied with different degrees of restraint, according to the size and
figure given to the shoe, or the size of the nails, and the direction
which they may have taken in passing through it; which, depending
entirely on the judgment of the workman, or rather his simple appre-
hension, totally unaware as he is of the structure and properties of
the organ he is fettering, will be ever liable to great uncertainty
and abuse. Nor is he aware, as he adds nail to nail, with violent
hammering and clenching, that when he has driven the last, he has
circumvented the hoof with a perfectly inelastic barrier of iron,
destroying almost entirely any motion it has, for one part cannot well
move but in conjunction with the rest; and thus is produced the first
part of the evils of shoeing.

The manner of paring the foot, and of bevilling interiorly the
upper surface of the shoe, will bring the exterior edge or circum-
ference of the hoof to bear alone against the shoe, and on which the
whole weight of the animal will rest, instead of being distributed
over a more general bearing. This seernc an unavoidable defect in
all shoeing of this nature, and which cannot be wholly removed; and
this mode of bearing will sometimes occasion, and especially if the
hoof be not very strong, a bending in near its middle region, and in
other feet producing a contraction of the hoof about the coronet,
attended with a miserable feeling, tenderness, and often lameness,
and which the French term, he <pied encasteU, and for which]! the
English, that I know of, have no proper term. The natural bearing
of the hoof on the ground is a very broad and extensive one, em-
bracing several parts of the hoof, and is quite different to this.

Horses also about to be shod are usually led from the dry stable,
and in the most dry and hardened state of the foot have the iron
applied to them, which cannot afterwards in the least relax. And it

is also true that the shoe is affixed to the foot whilst the foot is oft"
the ground, and free from any weight or pressure, and consequently
in its least extended state�a circumstance which greatly tends to
augment the evil, and accelerate the contraction.

Nor should it be forgotten, that the nails when driven into- the sub-
stance of the wall, distend it, like wedges driven into wood.�For
it is obvious, that they will always remove a portion of horn from
its situation equal in size to the bulk of the nail, the impression
of which will be partly lost by condensation of the horn immediately
surrounding it, and partly by the dilatation of its substance; which
dilatation will take place chiefly towards the inside of the hoof, the
horn being more soft and less resisting than on the outside: it is
true, this effect of the nail where the hoof is large, as in feet that
have not been much diminished or impaired by shoeing, as in the
fresh feet of young horses, will not be much felt; but where the hoof
by contraction has got into closer approximation to the coffin bone,
or in feet that have been trimmed pretty close, or pared small for
neatness, or to prevent cutting, or where the hoof has been broken,
and there is a necessity for nailing to the broken part, then it will be
severely felt, and produce various degrees of compression and tender
feeling.

There is in these cases no yielding or power of adaptation in the
iron to the foot; that if the shoe be irregular or deformed, it will
always draw the horn after it; and if the nail, in being driven by the
smith, should bend in its passage through the hoof, which it is very
liable to, it will have the effect of compressing the foot. On exa-
mining horses' hoofs after death, we have frequently observed ribs of
horn running in a perpendicular direction, and bulging towards the
inside of the hoof, the obvious effects of nails that had been driven
too close, or had bent in their passage: an inconvenience which at
times cannot be prevented even by real skill and care.

Again, after the hoof has been pared so as to satisfy the smith, we
generally see him make the shoe somewhat less; and after it has

been nailed on, the projecting horn is rasped, or cut away with the
knife. This, it has been said, is done to prevent the foot being too
large, to prevent cutting, or for neatness : and most certainly it will
but too frequently bring a compression to the interior more than it
ought to be; and as to the cutting, we have been well satisfied it has
on most occasions proceeded from the benumbed state of the foot
more than from the size of the shoe, of which we shall give some
striking proofs hereafter. And as a further abuse, we may observe,
that it frequently happens after the first nail has been driven, that
the shoe is violently hammered on the side to bring it into its proper
place, and thus compression is conveyed to the foot, and the fine
edge of the coffin bone gets damaged�that this evil should also as
much as possible be avoided.

Another circumstance unfavourable in the use of the common shoe is,
the constant advance of the hoof forward by its growth, by which the
narrower parts of the shoe are carried forwards to the wider parts of
the foot, and create a degree of compression at these parts : and at
times we even see the shoe buried in the horn of the hoof which
hangs over it, exhibiting plainly the compression that attends it, for
the narrower parts of the shoe are now opposite the wider parts of
the hoof.

It is also a truth that cannot be denied, that by shoeing the tender
feet of the young and growing horse, which are then enlarging to
their form with the other parts of the body, not only the evils arise
that would occur to a full-grown foot if shod, but there is a partial
arrestation of the growth attends it, with frequent disfiguration also;
so that whilst their limbs and body are every where increasing in
bulk and weight, their feet, placed in bonds of iron, are diminishing
in size and fitness to support and move them.

It is a circumstance certainly of less moment than some of the
preceding, although not to be passed over in silence, that the foot,
with the shoe placed upon it after the usual custom, is much longer
at the toe than the natural foot, creating an unnecessary purchase on

the back sinew, which will tend to embarrass the movements, and
strain and fatigue the limb ; for if we attend to the natural hoof, it
will be found that this wearing extremity of the hoof on the outside
of the toe is short and removed, forming an obtuse, broad, blunt
surface, that can occasion no impression or strain on the limb : the
shoe, it is true, will, when nearly worn out, assume this figure in some
degree ; but we propose that it should possess it on its first applica-
tion. This suggestion, however, we leave to be determined by future
experience.

It is also serious matter of regret, that not only the principle of
the art is defective, and especially obnoxious to the young and
growing feet, but unfortunately the practice of the art is peculiarly
exposed to abuse and accident: being a laborious employment, it is
necessarily occupied by men of little or no education, who after
a short time become strongly prejudiced with the powers of their art,
and their own super-mysterious skill, and, getting into difficulties,
commit errors from misconception and a defective knowledge, that
makes the practice as much, or more destructive than the principle.
A brief enumeration of some of these errors may not be without its
use: and preceding writers have inveighed bitterly against the
practice of burning the feet, and formerly, perhaps, with justice ; but
at the present time we do not recollect to have seen much mischief
from this source ; and we should apprehend that the evils they expe-
rienced, and conceived as arising from this cause, should have been
more justly referred to the general principle : in cart-horses, where
the growth has been considerable, it saves much trouble to burn
away the superfluous horn, though an unsightly, and somewhat dan-
gerous practice; with nag horses it should never be at all per-
mitted. More frequent injury arises from clumsy and ill-fitted shoes,
or shoes made too straight on the sides, or with irregularities and
roughness, or pritchel burs, raised in making the holes on their
upper bearing surface, that in tender feet may come in contact with
the circumference of the sole, or rather that part the smiths call the

vein, a more tender vascular part circumscribing the sole. But the
most frequent evil of all is from pricks or stabs of the nails, by their
taking a wrong direction; or from the nails, too large, compressing
the foot, splitting and tearing the hoof, admitting air into its sub-
stance, and drying it. Rasping away the useful cuticular covering
of the hoof, we have also already spoken of as an ordinary error, and
should not be permitted: and of the ill effects of slicing the frog,
and other injurious practices, we have already given our sentiments,
and which, as they do not attach necessarily to the principle, may
all be removed.

We shall now quit these considerations, to contemplate the effects
of the second year's operation of the shoe, which is exhibited in
Plate 9, fig. 3, engraved also from the actual cast of the foot by the
same excellent artist. The stiffness and increasing rigidity of the
hoof is more strongly manifested than in the last year ; the quarters
are more straitened, and a further reduction of its bulk of near half
an inch has taken place. The cleft of the furch has become nar-
rower and more lengthened; the foot has run out or lengthened at
the pince, as though this part, from having no restraint, had increased
at the expense, as it were, of the diminishing quarters and heels,
being carried out further in extent before the point of the furch.
When an impression of the foot was taken, it was always done on
the removal of the shoe, and before the foot was pared, that it might
appear as natural as possible, and not narrower than was real. And
most certain it is, that now the foot can less perfectly serve the
designs which a kind Providence proposed in its construction; for
where no superfluous or unnecessary part had been given, nothing, it
is obvious, could be changed or taken away without some prejudicial
effect.

If the hoof be contracted in its diameter, or has become of less
area, the softer parts within will be brought into closer contact, or

be absorbed, which condensation, or loss, must be followed by sen-
sations to the animal which it would be difficult to define or ascertain ;
we should, however, be reasonably led to expect a degree of numb-
ness from the compression, attended with faintness, or a dull, aching
pain. An impeded circulation of the foot will be one of the obvious
consequences ; and whether the elastic processes are not injured by
being compressed from a diminished area of the hoof, is not easily
ascertained : in very old cases we have thought them paler than the
natural ones, and not so broad. That this compression in the latter
stages of shoeing is attended with severe suffering (whatever may be
the degree of feeling in this stage of the business) is certain, since
neither the spur or whip, however severely inflicted, will make the
animal for many minutes together put out and use his feet to the full
extent of their natural action, or set them fairly to the ground.

If now any thing unsafe or disagreeable begins to be experienced,
the rider will be led to suspect that idleness or carelessness is the
cause, or weakness of the limbs, or, which is as usual, that the horse
is somehow not well shod; and finding that chastisement does not
long avail, or prevent him from tripping and being tender, and unac-
quainted with the actual changes which have been going on in the
feet, and considering the shoe as a natural and beneficial defence,
and not aware of its defective principle, he will attribute his diffi-
culties to a variety of causes, neither of which may be the true one;
he may become desirous of investigating and obtaining a knowledge
of the shoeing art; its abuses and errors will strongly arrest his
attention, nor will the slow and invisible operation of the shoe upon
the foot probably become a matter of his observation : seeking infor-
mation from the grooms, he will perhaps be first recommended to try
good shoeing, and to have recourse to some more knowing limb of
the business, who, "from practising shoeing all his life, must know
the thing well," and who will be expected, by some cunning trick or
device, to rescue him from his difficulties; but in this he may also be
grievously disappointed: harness will probably be recommended to

him as the next resource, and a proper vehicle being provided, his
tenderness will be surpassed by measures I shall not here describe;
and girded to the bearing rein, and sharply bitted, he is compelled at
all events, to perform his allotted work.

Some deviations or exceptions from the general rule. As it is a
fact that all horses do not suffer alike, and which has tended greatly
to embarrass reasoning, and conceal these effects, so we may state
that in horses, where the foot is large, coarse, and the horn very
strong, it is not so very much perceived, and the contracting process
may go on yet further, and not be much felt, especially by a rider
that has been long accustomed to this malady, or has had more
tender subjects to deal with; or if his hand and seat be not very
sensible to what is passing under him, in which respect there is a
surprising difference amongst men ; or by assiduous attention to the
animal and the ground he passes over, its inconvenience may pass
almost disregarded. Also the natural courage of the animal in bear-
ing pain, and which has been slowly induced, and to which he has
become accustomed�the fear of punishment�the rewards of de-
licious food looked for at the end of his labours,�will also all tend
to make it the less perceived, and the pride of not admitting a defect
shall occasion even the existence of it to be denied where it is
obvious.�On the other hand, if the hoof be small, and closely em-
bracing the foot,�the horn thin or very hard, as is particularly the
case with blood horses, and if the shoe has been applied early in life,
then the evil will be operating in its greatest severity, and at a very
early age he becomes a cripple, and is brought to the destructive
measures we have mentioned. At five, and even four years old,
I have frequently seen horses from this cause incapable of taking
more than half steps, and going in the greatest pain and misery, and
with difficulty kept on their legs : in tripping he perhaps falls, when
it is quaintly said by the grooms that " he has thrown his horse
down ;" or, as sometimes happens, he falls with the groom himself�
and then he is " a poor tumble-down devil, not fit to ride;" and

then, " What a shameful thing it is to put a poor fellow on such a
dog-horse"�that " he is only fit for harness, or in reality the dogs,"
or that a rolling-stone had caused his fall�though perhaps just
before purchased at a high price, and by his own recommendation.�
Or still another course of events may occur, and such an accident as
the above may have been brought on suddenly by a tight shoe, or a
nail driven too close; he may fall in consequence, and be sold on
this account: the nail removed, and a shoe better fitted, shall relieve
him, and he may pursue the ordinary course of other horses for
several years without a similar accident.�Such casual circumstances
tend to obscure and embarrass what otherwise would have been
almost natural and easy inferences in respect to the feet and shoeing,

Or it may happen in these cases where complaint is made of bad
going and tenderness, that the smith will have recourse to the only,
or almost only resource he has for giving relief; and this is the ope-
ration which he is pleased to call " throwing open the heels," a
phrase which mightily fascinates, since it is the very thing that is
wanted. For though the expression itself is a mere delusion, yet
relief is often obtained by the measure; for it will be clear on in-
spection, that the heels are not wider after the operation than before,
nor are in the way to become so, but a fallacious appearance of width
is communicated by the divided parts appearing at a greater distance.
This operation, and what we apprehend is the real cause of its relief,
is of sufficient importance to deserve a particular description : it is
thus performed:

We may observe that the wall of the horse's hoof, at its inflexure
or posterior extremity, is projecting to a sharp solid edge or angle of
horn, which is turned inwards towards the frog; and in the collapsed
or contracted state of the foot, this part resting against the side of
the base of the frog, is compressing and almost cutting it: this sharp
angle of horn is removed by a slice of the buttress, and, by a second
cut, a piece is also removed from the base of the frog, leaving a deep
wide notch in these parts; and it is usual to see a deep incision made

into the thick bulbous covering which the frog sends over the inflex-
ural column at its upper part. After this, the sides and bottom of
the reverted arch of the frog are most unmercifully sliced away,
and without any just reason whatever, as we have before shown in
our account of these parts. Indeed the hard horn of the bar might
be better spared, as it is the encroaching part, than the soft and
more necessary horn of the frog:�next, the sole is miserably
thinned with the drawing knife.�And now the effect of all this cut-
ting away is, that the foot is not actually wider than it was before,
or likely by these measures to become so; but a temporary release
is obtained from the pressure of the encroaching horn, and a degree
of elasticity, which is natural to the part, is once more communicated
to the foot. And if the shoe is now applied, and adroitly fitted and
nailed, a great relief will be experienced, and abundant applause
may attend it.

It is, however, only a temporary resource, and will in its conse-
quences, with most feet at least, be ultimately ruinous; for it is
obvious that this proceeding does not at all extend to the cause of
the evil, without which no permanent advantage can be expected:
the horn robbed of its harder, exterior coat, and the interior, more
succulent one, exposed, quickly dries, and in drying, contracts, and
pinches, or compresses the parts beneath, or perhaps cracks, as is too
frequently the case, between the hoof and the inflexion; and the frog
also, from frequent cutting, dries and diminishes, and at last sepa-
rates from its connexion with the bar, and wet and dirt being admit-
ted to the quick, it swells and cankers, and is the forerunner of much
suffering and mischief, and renders necessary (from the uncertainty
and expense of doctoring, at least by those men who have occasioned
it) the wretched policy we have stated of "working them up" The
frog also flayed to the quick, a frush is generated by the weakness
of the frog-stay, and the frog being frushed, and next cankered, and
unfit for its offices,�the animal, no longer capable of work, even by
the severest abuse, is led to the slaughter-house, its doors are closed

upon him, and the pole-axe, by removing the object, is ever ready
to cancel all errors.

It should ever be the object of the skilful veterinarian to preserve
the main frame of the hoof as entire as possible, as in it consists its
strength to resist the mischief of closing; and as the foot cannot,
when nailed to the shoe, expand outwardly, it will, the more the in-
terior is weakened, close interiorly, that we cannot too forcibly incul-
cate the necessity of preserving these parts.

It may however happen, and frequently does, that instead of even
a temporary relief, the very reverse is experienced; and he who, by
his boasted resources, was expected to mend, only makes bad worse,
by not understanding the application of all the measures necessary
to make it succeed; or the want of success may proceed from the
foot being already in a state that does not admit of further relief by
such means : whichever way is pursued, it is usually found that,
year by year, the horse is becoming on the whole more a cripple, and
the owner, either with or without having had accidents, in order to
get rid of the evil, and avoid further inconvenience, is induced to
part with him.�But with the horse himself, alas ! it is otherwise ;
his diseases cannot be parted with, and at each remove falling into
worse hands, and a more base and distressing service, he is at last
prematurely destroyed ; and this happens most frequently before his
bodily powers, that is, if they have been duly supported, are mate-
rially impaired, or ought to be so at least, for it is before the half
of the natural period of his life is expended.

And although there are feet, it is true, that can withstand the in-
fluence of these measures much better than others, and resist them
for a longer time, such as a strong, capacious foot, as we have before
stated, with a slow, uniform progress of the contraction, and good
management in the rider, may prevent his coming to harm, yet in a
general way it is undeniably otherwise, and especially with our finest
blood-horses, and best horses for the saddle, where the greatest perfec-
tion in the provisions and symmetry of the natural foot is observable.

Neither in such situations hitherto has the experience of the rider,
however long, afforded him the smallest clue for solving his diffi-
culties, or enabled him to warn others how they might escape the
evils he has had to contend with ; and the conclusion of many a tra-
veller's tale, after a most aggravating, and perhaps ruinous conflict
with these circumstances, has been�" that horses are by nature
troublesome and uncertain things, and are attended with difficulties
that are not to be overcome." And it is remarkable also, that in the
case of these crippled horses, coachmen, smiths, and jockeys will
often assume an air of consequence and an affected knowledge, or
rather knowingness, about the nature of these evils, though in reality
they never could comprehend them or their causes; and, far from
shame, take a merit in the very mischiefs and difficulties they them-
selves have created, without knowing how, though they often know
well enough how to turn them to their advantage by recommending
a frequent change.

Some, in order to avoid the evils of tender feet, ride furiously over
the ground, believing the danger to be greatest in going slow; and
though in one sense this may be true, yet the miserable accidents
which at times accrue from this expedient, sufficiently exhibit the im-
prudence of such a dangerous alternative, that it is not by such
measures that these evils are to be conquered.

We now propose to consider the third year's experiment on the
foot of the mare, which then appeared as represented in Plate 9,
Jig. 4, and it will be remarked that the foot is somewhat larger than
it was in the year preceding; for in the engraving a rigid adherence
was observed to the actual state of the casts. The reason of this
unexpected difference we shall now explain.�The possessor of the
horse had become somewhat alarmed, and though an experienced

d 2

horseman, perhaps for the first time, at the effects of the iron, and
the change the foot had undergone, which had been fully explained
and pointed out to him, and which induced him in consequence to
take off the shoes, and turn the mare to grass without them, doubt-
less to prevent the further progress of the evil, and to remedy the
present defect. The effect of this was, that a degree of fulness and
plumpness was communicated to the frog and parts about it, which
served for a while to interrupt the regular course of the experiment.
And we at one time proposed to turn this circumstance to advantage,
in recounting here the curious result of our experiments on the
restoration, or proposed restoration, of contracted feet, by this mea-
sure of removing the shoes, and turning the horse out; but we shall
rather prefer to introduce them under a more advanced stage of the
contraction, or in a separate account.

As this unexpected interruption to the experiment prevents any
direct conclusions from this year's experiment, we shall in this place
state to the reader the interesting result of an experiment on a new
subject, which is given in Plate 10, Jig. 1 & 2, made purposely to
examine and remove one of the hitherto-apprehended causes involved
in this contraction of horses' feet, and tending much to obscure and
perplex the notions entertained of this matter; for the influenee of
the stable has been on most occasions, as may be seen by the writings
of my predecessors, thrust in to account for this malady, and cast a
ten-fold obscurity in the way of the veterinary profession.

A coarse, ordinary, grey mare, five years old, was purchased for
this purpose of Mr. Lush, a distiller in Holborn, who informed me
he received her in part of rent from a tenant in the country, and
that she had never before, or more than once, been shod, which her
feet indeed sufficiently evinced; the form of one of her fore feet is
seen mfig.l, and the amplitude, and almost exuberant strength of the

furcaceous parts is remarkable.* A cast was made from this mare's foot
in Plaster of Paris, from which the engraving was made, and which
gives an exact expression of its features. After the cast of the foot
had been taken, she was shod, and then turned into a grass field near
the village of Peckham, that I might observe if this contraction and
hardening of the hoof would take place without any influence of the
stable ; and the result, after near a twelvemonth, was as seen in j%.2,
where the cavities in the furch bulbs, from the loss of elastic matter,
and the horn sinking in and following it, are not at all exaggerated,
as might perhaps, if not particularly stated, be otherwise appre-
hended : this more than ordinary diminution, and loss of matter in
these parts, will be readily accounted for from the very redundant
size and fulness of the softer parts in this foot, as we have just
stated in our description of fig. 1.

By another experiment also, the converse of this, we are led to a
similar conclusion.��At the St. Ives autumn fair of 1808, in Hun-
tingdonshire, I purchased a chesnut mare that had been very little
shod, (my express object in this journey being to procure one of
three or four years old, that had never been shod, but which I found
impossible, so early with us are horses usually shod :) this mare came

* The horse's hoof appears to receive, or to he imprest in its formation with very
different characters, as to the relative proportions of the two leading parts in its com-
position : in some feet the wall and its continuous parts are particularly strong, with a
frog not in the same proportion ; in others the frog, with its continuous parts, will be
found pre-eminently strong and full, assuming as it were a power at the expense of the
wall, which is not stout in proportion.�The frog-stay also, we may remark, in some
feet appears large and completed at the third, and in others not till the fourth or fifth
year.�Again, the upright or mule-footed horse appears to have a distinct, and almost
opposite form and qualities to the low and flat foot, communicating such different pro-
perties to the foot, as not only to alter very much its appearance, but greatly to inter-
fere with the regular uniformity of the effects of the shoe. The perfection of the foot
of the horse, therefore, would appear to consist in a symmetrically-distributed and duly
mingled power of each of the above parts.

the nearest to my purpose of any I could find; and I learnt after-
wards that she had been vicious in breaking in, and had been turned
out to grass for a twelvemonth without shoes, that she might forget
her vicious habits, and the ill treatment she had received.

I purchased her, and led her from St. Ives to Huntingdon, to my
friend Mr. Baumgartner's, who kindly interested himself in assisting
me in obtaining her; and thence to London. By gentle treatment
she in time forgot her fears and vicious habits, and I continued to
make her the subject of all my experiments on a new mode of
shoeing; and during the whole of this time she stood exposed in
every respect as horses at livery are to the litter and dung of the
stable without shoes ; and though so situated, her feet grew both
larger and rounder instead of diminishing, as would have been the
case had they been confined by the iron. And that I might more
accurately ascertain the truth of this, I took occasional casts in
plaster of Paris, but have not deemed them of importance sufficient
to deserve being engraved for the work.

That the stable is in no way ever inimical to the feet of Horses it
is not our intention by any means to assert; but we are only desirous
of exhibiting proof, that alone it is not sufficient to induce the con-
traction .that has been apprehended.

It may be urged that feet often contract in the stable, and without
shoes : this we readily admit; but its explanation appears to be that
a disposition to contraction has been previously brought on by the
shoeing, and which afterwards can proceed without the operation or
continuance of the original cause.

Having brought greater clearness into our views by the removal of
this generally-apprehended source of contraction, we can now, with
more unclouded views, return to a consideration of what the original
experiment unfolds respecting feet.

Let us now consider the well-marked cast of the year 1808 : we
have contrived to have that of 1809 and 1810 represented on the
same plate�the dotted lines serving to exhibit the otherwise con-
cealed outlines of one side of each of the two last feet.

The area of the foot in its transverse diameter is seen further
diminishing, and the condition into which the preceding reduction
has brought the foot will occasion lesser degrees of this change to be
now more severely felt. The horn is every where in more close em-
brace to the sides and posterior parts of the foot; and the horny
sole thickened, and almost inactive, is creating a resistance to the in-
ternal foot also in this direction, and with the general want of elas-
ticity, will occasion the movement of the bones within the hoof, and
of the hoof itself, to be diminished and constrained ; the vascular
organization also, which is uniting and attaching the hoof and bone
together, has also become diminished, and their functions impaired, and
has thus prepared the way for Founder, and other morbid affections
of the foot allied to this disease.

In very upright feet, where the inflexions are lofty, the bars, as the
mischief advances, approach the frog, and nearly close upon it, and
embrace it almost from top to bottom, as may be seen in the foot re-
presented in Plate 3, Jig. 3, and by their irritation and compression
is quickly generated the running frush, and which in such feet is with
more difficulty also got rid of.

That the word Founder* may be clearly understood,�for the term
has been strangely misapprehended and misapplied by the college,f
and through their teachings vaguely used to signify simple con-

* As the ship at sea founders, or sinks into the waves, so in this disease does the
bone sink down in the hoof: but the term is probably immediately obtained by us from
the old French, morfondre.

f So little aware was Coleman of what constituted this disorder, that till lately he
confounded it with simple contraction, and evidently did not understand the distinction,
which can easily be shown by his works, as also by his lectures, manuscript copies of
which are scattered about the country.

traction, or any affection which prevented the proper going of the
horse,�that, from seeing this abuse, we are the more induced to give
a brief description of this very distinct and peculiar disease of the
foot, that there may be no longer any misrepresentations or obscurity
about it; for, taking advantage of this state of things, they have
made their boasts of pretended cases, which, to look the more won-
derful, were stated to be of foundered feet, though in reality they
had only given a state of insensibility to badly-contracted feet by the
vile barbarity of cutting out the nerves of the leg.

A description of true Founder. The foot of the horse not unfre-
quently has its- connexion with the hoof, weakened or wholly de-
tached. The coffin bone in this case dislodged, or its adherence
impaired, is pressed down by the natural operation of the weight of
the body, and sinking till it meets the sole, it there rests, with its
front parts bearing on the front parts of the horn of the sole, forcing
it downwards, and sometimes outwards, in such a way that this part,
from being naturally concave, becomes of a flat or a convex form.
The horse is then truly enough said to be foundered or pomnte-
footed.*

* From pomme, (Ft.) an apple�not pomet, ponied, or pumice, as we often see it
written.�One writer has endeavoured to make the " pumiced foot," as he calls it, a
distinct disorder from founder, but certainly erroneously, since the state of the hoof he
so designates and describes is neither more nor less than the foundered foot after a
considerable lapse of time, the hoof then assuming that thick appearance. (See Stereo-
plea, pi. 1, fig .4.

To afford a name, and of a cast somewhat more classical for professional use than the
one vulgarly employed, I formerly ventured, in some lectures I gave on these subjects, to
arrange the different appearances or modifications of this complaint, and its congeners,
under the following heads or divisions :�
Pedicida, or The Perfect Founder, where the disease was complete, that is, with a

total detachment of the coffin bone, and a perfect subsidence and resting of

it upon the horny sole. (Stereop., pi. 1. f. 1.)
Pedimota, or Imperfect or Partial Founder, where there is a disturbed attachment

only, attended with certain deformities of the hoof, and a partial sinking of

the bone. Sometimes in recent attacks of this affection, bladders, galls, or

Many appear to be the varieties or gradations of this affection in
feet, and the disease may be formed by a gradual chronic process, or
suddenly, and at once, as in a few hours.�Cases within our practice
have occurred where it has happened after violent exercise, and the
body has become considerably heated, that the foot, suddenly chilled
by the imprudent application of cold water, has been attacked by a
most destructive kind of inflammation in the vascular tissue and
apparatus uniting the bone to the hoof; and these parts being sur-
rounded and confined by the solid hoof, through which, as the fluids
thrown out could not penetrate, necessarily take a course to the top
of the hoof, and with dreadful pain and suffering burst their way
out at various parts of the coronet, lacerating and destroying the
texture of these parts. Now it.is not in these cases the usual
process of purulent suppuration ; but a red, watery ichor, escapes
from the ruptured vessels, and rends the texture of these parts in
such a way as to give them very much the appearance of a torn
sponge drenched in blood : and with the sole also it sometimes
happens, after such sudden chills, that a destructive inflammation
follows in these parts, and the vessels rupturing, pour out their lymph
or blood between the vascular and horny sole, which, softening the

or bullae, filled with bloody serum, have burst out upon the coronet, and by
which a timely relief has been afforded, that prevented the total disunion
and fall of the bone. And these bulla, or bladders, on their subsidence,
after a time disfigure the skin and subjacent membranes with adhesions,
knots, and warts. The next affection to this in degree I have called the

Pediturba, or wrinkled Foot, by which I understand certain febrile actions and affec-
tions, that go no further than to disturb the regularity of the growth, and
disturb and wrinkle the hoof, but do not constitute a founder. And next,
and last, the

Coarctipes, or compressed Foot, which is a simple state of condensation of the whole
interior of the foot from shoeing, not however implying founder, though
with facility leading to it. To this disease, though as yet undescribed in
intelligible characters, a very large proportion of the horses may safely
assert an indubitable claim.

horn, it is with dreadful suffering presently forced from its place, and
descending, is reduced to a convex form ; and if the attack has been
vigorous, it may bring the foot into this state in a few hours ; or it
may be that a mitigated attack may happen, not dislodging the bone
from its place, or forcing the horny sole, but producing various
partial derangements of structure in these connecting parts of the
hoof only; and we have seen callous enlargements of the bones and
thickenings of the cellular texture, about the coronet and these
parts, arise from this cause, and in a less degree from mere long con-
tinued fever or heat, &c, induced in the foot, and the waved, the
crooked, ribbed, wrinkled, incurvated, and otherwise deformed hoofs,
appear many times to have their origin in affections of this sort.
All we wish to observe in respect to the operation of the shoe is, that
if it weakens in any manner the attachment of the hoof to the bone,
it prepares the way for such disorders as these ; and they will then
arise on the application of slighter causes than could produce them
in the healthy, sound hoof. Long, dry, hot summers, therefore, will
cause horses to founder, or excessive exercise, or violent or protracted
labour, and especially ill-fitted shoes and close nailing, we have seen
often in England, and oftener in France, the finest blood-horses
foundered in a few weeks from this cause.

In these cases of dislodgement of the bone, the Keraphylla, or
horn processes, and the Podophylla, or cartilaginous processes more
particularly extend, in following the bone, and appear to fill the space
that would otherwise be vacant between the hoof and the bone with
a singular material, or mass of corneo-cartilage, hard and tough, and
occupying sometimes an inch, or inch and a half or more in width.
The bone becomes rounded by absorption, its sharp edges being re-
moved, finally occupying a round cavity, or nest in the horny sole.

In foundered feet the inflexions, or posteriors of the foot, in the
fully-foundered horse, stand wide, by which at a distance the sunken
foot may be known, which is caused by the coffin-bone forcing its way
backwards and downwards, and stretching these parts by resting for-

cibly against them�such horses generally try to go as much as they
can upon the posterior parts of the foot, bringing them first to the
ground, by which the bone, resting against soft matter, is relieved
from the suffering which the resistance of the more solid anterior
parts of the hoof would have occasioned it. For the treatment of
this complaint, as being foreign to our present purpose, we shall refer
the reader to p. 9 of the Stereoplea.

Founder also appears to arise from very long standing in the stable
without exercise, with the mal-influence of the iron assisting in the
mischief; for where there is exercise, a slight movement in the bones
of the hoof will take place in spite of all the restraints of the shoe;
but here there is none at all, no sort of elastic action. And the
parts inflame, and derangement is the consequence.

There also appears to be another' disease which the Americans
call founder. A horse in prolonged travelling becomes heated and
feverish and uneasy, and if Indian corn or maize, especially if it be
new, be given to him, he is seized with a peculiar affection of the
bowels, and they say he becomes foundered. Not having ever seen
this complaint, I am not assured of its exact nature, and whether the
feet are connected with it or not, or only so casually, and if the
attack has been very violent when he casts his hoof.

The ancients describe a disease similar to it, which they call Cri-
thiasis, from icpidri, hordeum, barley, and the account of the Greeks
agrees very much with the description given by the Americans. We
could desire further information on this matter from those who may
have favourable opportunities of observing it. It may be mistakenly
called founder, without their knowing the proper meaning of that word.
y Immobility of the limbs, from a load of undigested matter on the
stomach, is perhaps what they mean by this term. If so, the diluting
or mixing the maize with bran or chaff, and not to give too large a
dose at once, we should recommend; or a portion of water along
with it, to dilute the heavy gluten of the corn, may prevent it.

e 2

All horses which race, especially old ones, must ever be in the
greatest danger of founder, being kept all their days in broad iron
shoes, and then suddenly, on the day of racing, put into narrow
ones, called plate shoes. These kind of shoes are so thin and weak,
that they spring to their impression, and being used with all their
whole force in the race, the sudden expansion of the foot must inevi-
tably create excessive pain, and tend to dislodge the bone, and finally
occasion founder; and hence we see that not only Eclipse and
Worthy were foundered, but a numerous host beside, whose deeds,
though great, have not led to their history being recorded, quod
" vate sacro carent,"�perhaps some experienced amateur of the turf
could afford me the means of abundantly filling up the deficiency.
Horses, in the commencement of the preceding complaints, put out
and shift their fe$t as they stand in the stable. Horses also with
the shoes kept on too long, and never removed, will acquire this
disorder of founder. A contraction also about the mouth of the
hoof will give a bulged appearance of its middle parts, an effect we
sometimes see; for on differently-formed feet different effects are
produced. In some the hoof takes to elongating at the toe, and
then they say, very properly, the foot " runs to toe." A natural
consequence of the contraction of the sides of the wall will be the
protrusion forwards of the toe, lengthening thereby the foot in this
direction.

Reverting to the impression, we see, PL 11, Jig. 5, the figure
of the foot at this period. The frog, or furch, we observe, has
become reduced to but little better than the half of its original
bulk; being a reverted arch and soft, it has yielded and given way
to the impression of the bars without making any great resistance,
as they in their turn have given way, with the wall, to the more
powerful iron�by absurd cutting of its exterior coat, its figure has
become wholly changed from an almost equilateral triangle to a
figure not unlike a man's thumb, and its texture, from soft, yielding

and elastic, has become perfectly stiff and hard, and, together with
the frog-stay, hacked by knives and debilitated, from its weakness,
has become exposed to frush, which in the following year will be
seen to invade it by a rupture and breaking up of it, which any casual
blow is now sufficient for its appearance, but which could not have
happened had it been let alone.

It cannot, as the mare is still living, be ascertained in this par-
ticular case; but it has been found in several feet that we have
examined at about this stage of the contraction, that the cartilages
had begun to ossify, and first at their base or insertion into the bone ;
and it would appear also that this has taken place from the confine-
ment and want of motion in the hoof, which is necessary to maintain
the health and tone of these parts. And we have observed also,
that in those cases the posterior parts of the cartilages are more affected
than the anterior, their motion being of more consequence to them.
In cart-horses the ossification of the cartilages through their whole
extent is remarkably frequent, naturally; and this occurrence was to
us formerly a great difficulty to account for. The above circumstance
explains it, and seems to show that the want of freedom in the
motion of the hoof, whether impeded by natural causes or artificial,
will produce this effect; and the cart-horse's hoof, from being of a
much thicker substance, and with less elasticity, consequently is the
cause of the generation of these morbid ossifications in them.

And not merely are the cartilages affected, but, what was never
known or suspected before, we can clearly show that the very bone
is affected, and suffers a diminution, with all the soft parts under the
impression of the iron, in a manner that is truly remarkable, losing
its beautifully-organized exterior, which becomes obliterated, as may
be seen by referring to Plate 7, where both states are exposed.

From this collapse or condensation of the hoof, and the morbid
actions accompanying it, we get an increased heat of the part, and
a more rapid departure of the moisture and perspiration of the hoof,

which again contributes, by the dryness, to create hardness, and to
further aggravate the evils that are supervening.

Flat-footed horses appear not so sensibly to feel these effects of
the shoe; and in some cases the defects of their-nature even appear
assisted and relieved by its operation ; so these longer sustain its im-
pression, and with less injury than the upright feet. The sole, how-
ever, of such feet, from its flatness, is apt to feel the iron, and the
pressure of the shoe, by bruising this part, will more frequently give
rise to corns in them. The wall is also often ribbed and wrinkled in
these feet through weakness, which occasions them sometimes to be
called shelly feet by the smiths. The furch also is often spreading,
and large in such feet naturally, but soon diminishes with the cutting
and the iron, and becomes circumscribed by the wall.

The foot now greatly changed, is in a condition for the attack
of a variety of disorders; its diminished bulk and increased hardness
cannot but be accompanied with pain and its consequences.

We now advert to the 6th cast or impression, made from the same
foot of this mare in June, 1809, PI. 11, Jig. 6. Formerly it was
stated that contraction of the foot was not sufficient alone to produce
,the frush, since we see the most contracted feet free from that
disease; yet contraction prepares the way for frush, and afterwards
certain casualties are sufficient to excite it. A diminished, hard, and
brittle state of the furch, from contraction and thinness in the horn
covering it, from its being too closely pared, will render it liable to be
broken by collision or impulse against the stones; great heat alone
in the feet, proceeding from a feverish state of the body, in con-
sequence of too strong or too much food, and the want of due exer-
cise, or the feverish effects of shoeing, will also induce a frush at this
weakened part; or, after the frog-stay has been weakened, exposure

to wet, by occasioning the remaining weakened horn to rot, will
induce it. From one of these causes, and we apprehend chiefly the
latter, a frush has actually taken place in the mare's foot now under
consideration.

The miserable appearance the foot now makes, strongly marks the
wasting and impoverishment which a frush, and the loss of the frog-
stay, bring upon it:�the meagre sharpness of the heels is very
striking, and one side of the frog has suffered considerably more
than the other, either by casual encounter with a stone, or from
being more cut and denuded by the knife; the inflexion, bent over
this side, is encroaching, and nearly surrounds and incloses the
wasted base of this smaller side of the frog; and this part would
now but ill bear the pressure even of the thumb, much less the
weight of the body of the horse in passing over any irregular
surface.

The compressed sides of the hoof, and the lengthened appearance
of the toe and heels, have now brought the foot to a sort of parabolic
figure, from being round and bulging laterally : and the frog, from
an elastic, broad, and nearly triangular form, is fast assuming the figure
of a man's finger; its centre, wasted by the frush, and its sides col-
lapsed from the pressure of the bars, it is incapable of making any
resistance whatever to the encroachments made upon it; so the foot,
if now exposed without the shoe, would become as painful, or more so,
than if kept in the fixed state to which it is accustomed. This is
seen if the shoe be taken off, or lost on the road, and the horse is
obliged to travel even a small distance without it, for he then goes
lame; and hence the great utility and necessity of the shoe to the foot
would be established in the opinion of the public, and would occasion
its imperfections to be overlooked : indeed, in this state of the foot,
the shoe becomes of the greatest necessity; for, it must be admitted,
that the horse cannot now do even tolerably well without it.

If the foot has been previously well formed, or in such way, and

with such properties as it is found with, in the middle order or medium
stature of horses, or especially as in the blood horses, it is impossible
that inconvenience should not be felt in some way or other in his
manner of going, at this degree of the contraction. Some leave the
stable tolerably well, and do not at first appear incommoded; but,
ere they have travelled far, a want of firmness and proper stepping
is almost sure to be perceived by the rider : some, on the contrary,
go very crippling and badly at setting off, and mend as they get warm.
Their manner of expressing what they suffer will be very various,
according to the temper of the animal, the nature of the foot, the
more gradual or sudden progress of the contraction, and also the
manner in which the shoes actually on the feet are fitted and nailed.

We have not terms to express with any precision the affections,
and their gradations, of the modes of going in these different states
of the horse's feet; and it is usual to take as little notice of these
defects as possible, for very obvious reasons�the fear of lessening in
any way the value of the animal, and the dread of being reproached
with timidity or want of jockeyship, &c. It is therefore commonly
glossed over as of little consequence, or considered a natural sort of
defect, and rather to be treated as a subject of jest and ridicule than
as an object deserving commiseration: it is usual to consider it as
somehow a defect of nature, or that it has some relation or corre-
spondence to the decrepitude of age.

With men employed to drive stage-coaches, these defects are but
ill understood, and often made subjects of much humour and merri-
ment, and they continually are inventing pleasant phrases to disguise
their being too seriously considered, and remove from public attention
the too obvious sufferings of these animals, and prevent what they
deem impertinent inquiries respecting them, or any notice or commise-
ration. The more jocular these phrases are, and the less meaning
they convey, the more they are suited to their purpose ; for though
such men have but blind and obscure views, if any at all, of the

manner in which these imperfections are produced, yet they
cannot but perceive them, and there is a pride in not admitting their
existence. Thus if any inquiry be made, we are told the horse is
" only a little groggy," insinuating thereby that he is tipsy, or goes
as a man does that has taken too much liquor, though it is but too
obvious that the poor animal could have borrowed his grog only
from the glowing countenance of his ruddy friend on the coach-box.
At other times, if one presume to inquire respecting it, we learn
that "he is chest-foundered:"�how this part can ever founder
remains to be disclosed : but it is a notorious fact, that the pains of
the feet of many horses will occasion a strong retraction of the
chest, and hollowness of the skin and muscles at the front of the
breast, from its operating probably as a man with a belly-ache holds
in his stomach, till the parts habitually take this form, or the effort
or exertion of always standing or going on the toes may assist in
causing this restriction. " A stitch let down," or " a screw loose,"
are other rather figurative modes of describing this condition; " as
lame as a tree" is also a favourite expression, not confined to jockeys,
and trees that never move are brought in to illustrate the subject of
the going of horses. " Queer understandings" " shook in the
shoulders," " a cat on hot irons," " a nodding cove," or " a hop
merchant," are choice and lucid terms, ever ready for the satisfaction
of impertinent inquirers into the affairs of horses, and serve to guard
this mysterious department of knowledge from the danger of expo^
sure. And such answers are but too often received as proofs of
deep skill in horse-flesh; for as they convey nothing that any one
can comprehend, so they serve to throw an impenetrable veil over
these defects, and excite a dread of interference with the intricate
affairs of horses.

We have already stated, that phrases are wanting to represent the
various exhibitions of suffering; but we may observe as to the fact,
that the first effects of tenderness or of pain in the feet that is not
very acute, will be, that the animal will not permit the limb to take

the full extent of its motion, and, restraining the action of the
shoulder, will occasion a contracted step. This being the first ex-
ternal indication of the pain, it is often, by superficial observers,
referred to the shoulder itself. The foot in general, for the same
reason, will not be raised so high above the ground, in order that the
impulse on its descent may be less, thus inducing tripping. And the
going on the toe, as it is the most fixed part of the hoof, and is left
unrestrained by the nails, so it remains the soundest, and the least
injured by the operation of the shoe ; the horse accordingly, when
travelling, endeavours to make it serve all the purposes of the foot;
and hence the digging, hobbling, and often blundering manner of
going. There is frequently also, in the more early stages of the
mischief, as at about five or six years old, a degree of faintness, and
most distressing sense to the rider of a sinking under the weight, and
hardly endeavouring to uphold himself: this is the dangerous period
where no art of the rider can scarcely keep him from falling, and is
distressing almost beyond endurance. This is the moment of conflict
between nature and the iron, which, after a time, differing according
to circumstances, terminates in the recedence of all the parts of the
foot before its iron protector. In travelling we have often witnessed
this feeling, and knowing its source, with an indescribable anguish,
without daring to do the willing animal the injustice of punishing
it as an offence of his own. Such appear to be the affections and
their causes, and by considering them, we hope that in time a more
just view of them will lead to a mitigation of their multiform and
most cruel wrongs and sufferings.

Our roads every where exhibit what may be naturally looked for
as the consequences of these imperfections in the mode of going of
our horses. People on horseback are seen quarrelling with their
horses, and violently abusing them for their negligence and want of
care, as they apprehend it to be, in their going, jagging their mouths
with the bits, or using the whip or the spur, " to keep them alive,"
and prevent their falling; sometimes cutting them on one shoulder,

and sometimes on the other,�for it is a matter that has not yet been
decided, whether in these cases it is better to punish the offending
limb, or that which is opposite. The nodding of horses, alluded to
in one of the above phrases, is a habit frequently seen, and, we have
thought, more especially with the hackney-coach horses ; it perhaps
affords a momentary relief to the fore feet, from partially taking off
the weight of the head at the time of making this movement.

And as horses, when brought into this crippled condition, are no
longer of much value, so they usually fall soon after into the hands
of unprincipled men, who make them serviceable by severity of
treatment, with harness more particularly, and the use of the bearing
rein, inflicted in a shameful manner; and with such insolence are
their measures carried on, that reasonable men scarcely dare to inter-
fere, as the laws do not protect them; * and being cheap, there is no

* Lord Erskine has, however, greatly to his own, and the honour of his profession,
(for one should have expected it more reasonably from either of the other learned pro-
fessions,) stepped forward in their behalf, and endeavoured to obtain for them the pro-
tection of the law. We hope his generous intrepidity, and hatred of oppression of
every kind, will not let him desist from renewing the attempt; though we could wish a
more generally diffused information, inducing a spirit of humanity towards them, should
rather take place to effect their relief, than the terrors of offending against the law.
Claims so natural and strong for protection surely cannot long be resisted. Heathen
Rome had more humanity; for in the early periods of the Commonwealth, it was death
to any one maliciously to ill-treat the oxen, so meritorious were they deemed, and de-
serving kind treatment for their services and uses, and as having the particular protec-
tion of the gods. The horses of their public games which acquitted themselves well,
were kept at the public expense till they died of old age.

The sacred writings were not meant to convey a code of laws respecting the usage
of animals ; but from a single precept we may judge of what complexion it would have
been if made, when it is said, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn," intimating figuratively, that not only they should not receive abuse and cruelty,
but that the most liberal and generous treatment should be extended to them.

Richard Martin, Esq., Member for Galway, has, since my writing the above in the
former edition, perhaps encouraged by the then ministry, brought in, and carried this
bill through the house, and very meritoriously enforced it afterwards in Smithfield and

F 2

restraint to cruelty on account of their loss, that they are made to
endure the most intolerable hardships and abuse, as though their in-
ability were of their own making, and they merited to be ill-treated
for it; excess of labour and suffering soon renders them totally use-
less, even for this service, and they are then obliged to be slaughtered;
for, continual severe pain, which in various ways is their portion, will,
as in all other animals, wear out and exhaust the bodily powers, and
prematurely bring on disease, and the necessity of their being de-
stroyed ; and in this wretched state, often are they seen severely
punished and abused, for errors they cannot help, and " when they
have done their utmost exertion, because they cannot do more ;"
and the laws which maintain the most trifling rights of men, in
respect to personal safety, had no protection till lately to these inno-
cent and often beneficial slaves from ill usage, however gross and un-
merited. Indeed, the shoeing, as it is called, does in fact create a
necessity for cruel measures, as it goes on, to keep pace with, and
oppose its effects. And much of their ill usage also comes from the
ill temper and savage disposition of the half-drunken people usually
employed about them, who have little patience with them, and the
failings their miserable condition brings upon them. It seems,
indeed, a monstrosity of injustice, that after the use of his feet has
been taken from him, he should be abused and chastised because he
can't go ; and especially when we recollect his willingness on all
occasions to exert his strength and powers for us, by the slightest
intimation of our wishes, even to the extinction of life itself; and
contributing, as he most willingly does, to the benefits of every class
of society,�the pomp of the great, the pleasures and interests of
the middle ranks, and the wants of the poor,�and assuredly not de-
serving such a return.

about town, setting an example that has been followed with the most beneficial effects
in other parts of the kingdom: we hope the example will also soon be extended to
other nations.

Horses by thousands are annually thus destroyed with circum-
stances of shameful barbarity, by errors induced upon error, and
which custom has rendered but too familiar for us to see in its true
enormity; and whole centuries* have blindly passed away, in which
these errors have not been perceived, in an ignorant and thoughtless
acquiescence with them; and formerly with more effrontery and
harsh proceeding in those inflicting them than at present. From
these causes horses are made scarcer and dearer consequently than
they otherwise would be ; and a greater number are obliged to be
raised for the public supply, and tracts of land must be kept untilled
for their support. Men scarcely begin to get used to their horses
often, and their horses to them, than they are obliged to abandon
them. Post-masters and jobbers of horses are struck with astonish-
ment at their prodigious and unaccountable losses, which can, for a
great part, be traced to these causes. It is often the case, however,
that from a timid or avaricious spirit, inn-keepers and stage-masters
are under-horsed, or without a sufficient number for their work, in
order to save the expenses of purchase and of keep, which brings on
those they have more labour than is consistent with health: pains of the
feet, gross offences to the mouth, unwarrantable and distressing loads,
harass and exhaust their natural powers, and farcy supervenes, and is
with difficulty again removed. They suffer losses in consequence,
which further intimidates them; and they progressively get into worse
disorder, and sink at last into the most destructive violence and abuse
of them; and then we hear complaints made of great losses, ill luck,
&c. I may be wrong in venturing such opinion; yet I cannot but
consider that every animal has his natural rights, and that if we avail
ourselves of his faculties, we have no right to abuse and maltreat him

* How much later than the fourth century we know not; but we shall presently ex-
hibit undeniable proof that it was not till after this aera that shoeing with nails was had
recourse to, although it is generally imagined by the public that shoeing, and the use
of the horse, were necessarily nearly or quite coevaL

in return. Loads ought by law to have some restraint, or we may
still with impunity see inflicted more severe sufferings than by the
whip; and the cruel and unmerciful is often most ignorant also of
his own best interests in this respect. Both this and the bearing
rein, by its intolerant application and abuse, may become a more
severe scourge and persecution than the lash; mechanical powers,
and levers of great length, instead of bits to guide, are now become
the rage, and a most shameful annoyance of these poor sufferers.

The implements of the forge, as the hammers and the rasps,
are often severely used upon them, and even injuriously, because,
forsooth, they will not stand quite still to have inflicted on them
what they cannot but perceive does them so much injury.�And I
have thought also that in the colder climates, as in England, the
temper of the horse is more mild and gentle, and he bears it better
than in warmer regions; for even in Paris, which is much warmer
their manners are sensibly changed, and more violence in shoeing
them is used by the smiths ; and in India, I am informed, the differ-
ence of their manners, and their increased fieryness of temper, is
very marked and striking.

The enlightened veterinarian should ever as his right, undertake,
from his superior acquaintance with the physical properties of the
animal, to be his friend and protector from merciless usage; and
though it will hardly be allowed in the present day, at some future
period, not very distant, this kindly office will readily devolve upon
him by general consent.

We are now about to consider the last cast of this foot, that we
shall find it necessary to notice PI. 11, Jig. 7, since the effects and
causes have been pretty fully traced, and here we may discover a
further derangement and deterioration of nature's fair form, by this
pinioning of the hoof, a further elongation of the foot, and running

to toe, and compression of the sides, which must necessarily be
attended with correspondent changes in the bone and interiors of
the foot. The furch is narrower than it has been at all, and its
base, though screwed in and narrower, appears to be less diseased, at
least both its sides are become alike, and equally deficient; the frog-
stay is only noticeable by its cleft, or rather fissure of the frush, which
is become dry, and in a better state than in the year preceding, though
the foot be more contracted, disproving the idea of contracted heels
being the genuine cause of frush as had been supposed. This
diminution and sinking in of these parts must have been preceded
by a reduction of the cartilaginous inflexures we have formerly
described, and of the elastic resilient globes, or internal bulbs;
and nothing now is scarcely left to these parts but horn and
bone, the sharp angles of the inflexural columns being covered with
a meagre covering of furcaceous horn. And the real width of these
parts is now not more than two inches and a half, or hardly so
much. How incompetent therefore for its offices is it become, and
that he should trip, or blunder, or stumble, can it be any matter of
surprise, but is it not rather to be wondered at that he can go at all
after this devastation. And what must be the chagrin and astonish-
ment of the animal himself to find that as his feet get worse, his
jaws and his sides also become more painfully afflicted in the same
degree. For certainly, if we debilitate or destroy the basis of the
edifice, the edifice itself becomes afterwards of but little value.

And here we may introduce a further additional circumstance which
takes place in some feet, and which we were not fully aware of when
we published our first edition, which is, that the Shuttle bone is
sometimes fixed by this general contraction of parts, and is found
adhering to the flexor tendon, and at other times, (either with or
without adherence,) it appears to be affected with points of ulcer-
ation of its surface. No case of this sort had occurred to me when
I described formerly the effects of contraction, and I have since ascer-
tained, that though such exist, they are comparatively cases of great

rarity. Moorcroft had, however, seen instances of it, and has well
described it, and a veterinary practitioner has been very elaborate in
his account of it, giving it a frequency that does not accord with facts,
and disengenuously it would appear to diminish the notice of the
general contraction. Nothing certainly is more easy than to pre-
dicate a disease that only the death of the animal, and subsequent
dissection could verify the existence of, taking advantage of this,
he makes as much or more of it, than the old farriers did in re-
fering all lamenesses to the coffin joint, which puts all denial or
dispute out of the question, as nothing could be proved, and therefore
men acquiesced, and often gave them credit for a discrimination and
skill that did not exist. I have examined no inconsiderable number
of contracted feet, without finding a single case of it, and so have
others desired by me, that I am convinced it is a truly rare disorder.
If the reader wishes to see the discussions upon it both pro and con,
he may find them in the Lancet for 1829, and in the Farrier and
Naturalist for the same year, and in the Edinburgh Agricultural
Journal for 1830, where nearly all is said that can be said upon it.

To us it would appear that this rare affection has place when the
shoeing has been so executed, as to drive the compressed horny
sole upwards against the tendon and shuttle bone, forcing its
interior edges or the margins of its cleft against these parts,�per-
haps in addition to this forcible operation of the shoe, another
condition may also be necessary for its complete production, that is, a
long retention without exercise in the stable, since at any time the
smallest motion of the tendon upon the surface of the bone must
prevent it. We hope for the future that the cruelties exercised by
interested persons under this pretence will not be submitted to by
the public. For it is certain the ignorant and interested are ever at
work to find out some pretext for operating in one way or other
upon these patient creatures.

And any one would be astonished, who is unused to horses, to
observe the patience of the animal under many of his sufferings, and

how little he is disposed to exhibit any appearance of pain. Nails
from shoeing we have several times seen taken out of their feet,
where they had been driven into, or so near the quick, that they had
caused suppuration, and matter and blood has followed their extrac-
tion without his driver having at all discovered, by any external indi-
cation, that anything was the matter ; so that it is clear they do not
flinch at a little,�and indeed what avails him to express a suffering, as
it only gets him a severer application of the wrenching iron to his jaws,
or of the spur or the whip to his sides, that he soon learns to know
that endurance is the lesser evil,�their patience is indeed beyond
all praise; and I may safely defy any pen, however able, to paint the
ungrateful amount of their wrongs and their sufferings : a share of
which may now, however, be guessed at. Their strength, supposing
them whole and unmutilated, is still tried often with loads that would
make one shudder, and much more suited to the force of the elephant
than of the horse : if they do it a few times, and are not visibly hurt
by it, they then think they may do it always; but not so�the effects
are at last seen, and one horse doing it for years, on account of
extraordinary strength, the rest ought, say they, also to do it�a
common and fallacious reasoning. And my only wish, in thus stating
these things, is to call up more able advocates to his cause.

In the present state or degree of collapse of the foot, as given at
Jig. 7, the horse becomes but ill suited for the purposes of the saddle,
and her owner had sometime ere this put her in harness, and at
length made a brood mare of her, and turned her out without shoes.
I saw her some eight or ten years ago, and examined her feet, which
had a little plumped up from being without shoes; but this does
but little for them, since the growth of parts that have been once
absorbed is but a miserable representation of the original material
and organization, and will bear comparison with the scar to the
natural skin, a mere puffy substitute.

Such are the effects of the shoeing when moderate measures are
pursued; but I am confidently of opinion, that I have seen this iron

fetter applied by the smiths in such a way, and it has induced such
pain and misery, that the animal has never after recovered from its
effects, or had the perfect use of the foot afterwards, and one shoeing
has rendered him a cripple for life, and others have, after a time,
foundered from the effects of the violence so committed.

It has also appeared to me, that the operation of the effects of the
iron is not lateral only, but that the sole also is affected by it, from
the clenching of the nails, and their being so forcibly driven ; and
that this long-continued pressure upwards occasions numbness, and
sometimes lameness, and is one of the principal causes of cutting
where motion is denied to the shoe itself. It must also be evident,
that the rapidity of the deterioration of the foot will much depend
on the more or less cutting and denudation it suffers by the smith, as
well as the more confined or more liberal manner of fitting out the
shoes, for which there can no rule be laid down, but which must ever
be left to the simple apprehension of the workman.

Another use may be also made of this experiment and of these
figures, where we are desirous of describing cases of contracted feet;
the degree of it may be pointed out by a reference to them, whereas
before, contraction was contraction, and much or little was all we
could express of it.

Now in this stage of the condensation, as seen at Jig. 7, the animal,
in spite of all his gayety and courage, must begin to make some ex-
ternal indication of suffering ; and whether in this case it happened
or not, I know not; but in similar feet I have observed, in some
horses, perhaps, where they were more sensitive, and could not bear
the pain so well, they would exhibit it by a bowing of the knees and
legs; and this is done obviously to avoid a too direct pressure upon
the suffering parts, as a more perpendicular direction of the column
would obviously occasion : this is often asserted to be natural, and to
some horses I do not deny that it may be so; but I can say, that in
several instances considered as such, I have known the expansion
shoe in a very few weeks bring their legs straight enough : very high

heeled horses, or with high inflexions of the hoof, I have thought
were more subject to this affection.

There is no telling the extreme point to which contraction can go;
but I once recorded, about fifteen years ago, the appearances of two
fore feet that fell in my way, where the extremest contraction existed
that I had ever seen; and this was a blood-mare, I believe, some-
where about twenty years old : the following is a copy of the memo-
randum made of it at the time. " The frog was reduced to the size
of the little finger; the cartilages were both, at their posterior por-
tion, thickly ossified: this bony deposit extending inwards, had
reached the shuttle bone, (os transversum) surrounding its extre-
mities, which were impressed and locked in it. The ligamentary
stuffing of the heels, or, to use a more intelligible phraseology, the
convoluted, or rather convolved internal globes, were also ossified in
their cartilaginous parts, with rough points, and variously perforated.
The posterior edge of the middle part of the shuttle bone was
eroded; and of the other foot, the front elevation of the coffin bone
was enlarged and grown higher by three quarters of an inch, from
ossific cauliflower deposit, which appeared to be the effect of a per-
fectly fixed state of nearly all things. This, perhaps, is only wit-
nessed in extreme cases. But what is singular amidst all this ossifi-
cation, the anterior portion of the fossa of the coffin bone, in which
the cartilage is lodged, was in its natural state, and clear of bony
deposit. This, I was led to apprehend, was occasioned by its being
connected, half of it with a ligament which rarely ossifies, and which
supplied it possibly with a slight degree of motion. The extremities
of the coffin bone in both these feet appeared to be full of large
cavities, and much absorbed; but whether longer than natural, there
was no means of ascertaining. The Keraphylla were, for the most
part, removed, and a sort of smooth horn cartilagefo und where they
were attached, and so were the Keraphylla of the inflexions in the
parts opposite to the coffin bone."

g 2

The ultimate effects of the iron on the feet, especially such as the
shoes are particularly inimical to, are never seen, since they are no
sooner, from loss of parts or disfiguration, rendered unserviceable,
than they are slaughtered, that we know not to what condition the
foot would at last be reduced.

That I might notice in a more particular manner the first visible
effects of the shoe on the foot, I this year, 1811, ordered my own
bay mare to be shod with common shoes ; she was nearly five years
old, and never had had a shoe on. In this experiment I was sur-
prised to find that the upper parts of the hoof first felt its effects ;
the upper part of the hoof and coronet became heated by it after
about three weeks application, and the coronary frog-band became
more dry and brittle, cracking away, and leaving the hoof sooner
than formerly, and seemed to embrace and bind the hoof more
strictly. After the removal of the shoe, which was kept on about
five weeks, as the horn grew down, the traces of its effect could be
discerned in a depressed ring, which grew down as the hoof grew,
and was visibly different to the horn preceding and following it.

Another effect, I believe unperceived of the shoe, is, to reduce
and diminish the Keraphylla, and to redden them. An opportunity
was afforded me of ascertaining this curious fact in a valuable horse,
which belonged to my late valued friend, James Kidd, of Brentford.
He was five years old at the time of his death, and had been hardly
ever shod. His feet being brought to me for examination, the Kera-
phylla were found much thicker in substance, and in a remarkable
degree broader, even to nearly double the width of many I had seen
in feet that had been long shod; and what was singular, and contrary
to what we had before apprehended, were not of a red or pink color,
but a clear white. The action of this mare, by those who broke her
in, and by others who rode her, was particularly noticed as being
free, extensive, and firm, to an extraordinary degree, beyond any
horse they had ever recollected to have rode before ; and their expe-

rience in this way was not inconsiderable; which must have been
greatly contributed to, if not chiefly occasioned, by the full unfolding
and perfect developement of the organization of the foot.

In 1819, I examined with close attention the Keraphylla of the
hoof of a horse that was eight years old, and that had never been
shod, or with any other than the jointed shoes, and not much with
these. And these parts were found broader than in the shod foot,
being a full eighth of an inch wide, and when washed were perfectly
white ; they appeared also thicker in substance, and their loose edges
more smooth, and not so torn or ragged as these are generally seen.
And a remarkable difference presented in these feet in the depth of
the inner heel, or column of inflection, being very considerably
deeper, and the sole also lower down the inflection than in the outer
side, to a degree I never witnessed in feet that had been sometime
used to be shod.

Having now exhibited the inimitable beauty and simplicity of
design in the structure of the foot of the horse, and its provisions
for destroying a too sudden resistance to the weight of the animal on
meeting the ground, and disclosed by actual experiment, proofs of
the injurious nature of the shoe in respect to this property; and
though much labour and care have attended these elucidations, yet
we apprehend our readers will expect from us the consideration of
further topics relating to these matters, and about which they may
be even more solicitous than about the above illustrations, which
were, however, previously necessary properly to understand the
nature of these evils. The reader would perhaps be desirous of
asking, What can be done with feet, already injured, as to their
restoration ? and whether we must be obliged to go on with these
errors from the impossibility of removing them ? or whether we may
partially remove them with those horses whose very utmost work is
not required ?�for it will be readily admitted by us, that to obtain
the full measure of work which the horse is capable of giving on the

road, some artificial defence is necessary; or whether, by refraining
from early shoeing, except with tips, the mischief may be greatly
palliated, and we must rest content with that ? or if we may look for
a total removal of the evil in all cases by shoes on a principle widely
different ? Time has hardly been sufficient for us to consider and
answer all these inquiries; nor do we consider ourselves pledged, in
consequence of these discoveries of the defects of the present
system, to find a remedy; since it has been much to point out a
gross evil, that was scarcely before suspected, and certainly not seen
in its true light. We believe, however, that preventative measures
may be resorted to, to a great extent, and remove a considerable
share of the evil, without much inconvenience and loss of labour;
and of the remedial means in part, or perhaps wholly, we can, after
much reflection, hold forth promising expectations, and which we
believe will not be disappointed.

The above extracts, taken from my former edition, serve to exhibit
the state of things at the time of concluding that work, about the
year 1812. At that period, my views and attempts were considered
as quite visionary, and I often experienced the reproach of having
discovered an evil for which there was no remedy. But what is still
more singular, nine years elapsed, with all the above facts before the
public, without the least proposition from any one for the removal of
the mischief, as though the case was indeed hopeless. Having, years
before the commencement of publishing that work, seen how advan-
tageous would be the disuse of nails, and conceiving that shoes might
be attached without them, and be made removeable at pleasure, I
had been long occupied with this object; and afterwards, from be-
ginning to see the full effect of the nails, I redoubled my efforts, and,
sanguine in the success of it, secured my rights for a shoe of this
kind by a patent; but after a long and tedious trial, abandoned it, as
being too troublesome for general use, though great advantages had
been fully proved by their use on several occasions. I then, fatigued
and injured in my health, quitted these shoes, and resolved upon

pursuing the other principle,�for there are but two, that is, to use
nails, but to give a motion to the shoe itself. And after trying this
for some time, and finding that the purpose was answered, in saving
the foot from contraction, and extending the step of the horse, I
proceeded to publish, in 1817, the Stereoplea, giving an account,
and recommending the lap joint shoe, and also giving some account
of the former removeable shoes, using a steel-headed rivet for the
lap shoe, otherwise it could have been of very little use. I also in-
vented at this time a new kind of shoe or defence, which I called
The Paratriie, which defended the front of the foot and wearing
line only, and was held on by teeth and a helmet in front, to which a
strap round the coronet, and buckle was attached : this was easily
driven on by means of a hammer, or even a stone, being made of
thin steel, and then fastened, became a defence that doubled and
trebled the natural powers of the hoof. To pursue, however, histo-
rically, or chronologically, the narrative of these proceedings, I may
observe, that now the public attention in several instances began to
be attracted to it; in this year, my ingenious friend, Benjamin Rotch,
Esq., a barrister; seeing the importance of the elastic principle, took out
a patent for a new sort of shoe, formed of several pieces, connected
together in the form of a horse-shoe by a thick piece of sole leather,
rivetting them upon it, and actually sold licenses for using it to
some shoeing smiths about town : it, however, though ingenious,
proved abortive, as each piece could only receive one, or at most,
two nails, which were insufficient, in case one of the pieces should
bear the whole weight of the horse, as in the circumstance of his en-
countering a stone would happen, when the clenches would either
give way or break, and then the next piece would also loosen, and
thus in succession, the whole would come off; so that it was soon
after abandoned.

A little after this period, I found out what appeared to me a much
better way of making a joint shoe than the above lap; and that was,
by a shoe of two halves united by two rivets, holding a steel piece

between them, imbedded in the pince of the shoe. The trial of
this realized every expectation and wish, as being a more durable
shoe than any other, and with plenty of motion, which also could be
easily limited. I hesitated some time whether to take out a patent
for this novelty; but at last determined to give to the horses and the
public all the benefit of it, without any clog of this sort, and pub-
lished an account of it in 1820, and constructed a forge at consider-
able expense in the Edgeware Road, near Paddington, for the per-
fecting it, and applying it, calling it The Steel Tablet Shoe of
Expansion. In the next year, 1821, Colonel Goldfinch took out
a patent for a shoe, having no other property than a simple division
of the common shoe into two pieces,�of course the two halves,.hot
supporting one another, they would come away, and carry a large
mass of the hoof with them,�so that this also was soon after aban-
doned.*

About this period, whether later or a little earlier I don't exactly
know, my worthy friend, Joseph Dockwra, of Kelvedon in Essex,

* To those who prefer the lap joint, the great evil of it is, the friction of the two
surfaces, especially if these are at all extensive, and are rivetted a little stiff. To pre-
vent this, I propose that these surfaces should not be quite flat, but a little matter
raised or elevated in the middle, by which the possibility of much friction would be
prevented; for the power of the hoof in overcoming lateral resistance is not great, and
will be easily obstructed. There is the same difficulty with the tablet shoe, but not in
quite so great a degree, and the same measures should be used to avoid it. Both these
shoes, made of Lucas's malleable cast iron, are found to wear extremely well, and are
formed with the nicest accuracy. In this case, instead of casting the holes, we cast a
deep fullering, and perforate them afterwards with the common pritchel with perfect
ease. The less these shoes are put in the fire and knocked about the better. We
have also thought that, to render these surfaces of the joint less obstructive by their
friction, a concentric raised thin circle round the rivetting hole, and another raised line
near the external edge, would prevent those surfaces coming in contact, or having any
friction. Suet might be lodged also in the vacant depressed space between the two
circles, that would facilitate their motion, and prevent rust also, or the anti-attrition
compound might be used for this purpose, of suet and black lead.

having purchased and read my work, and disliking the going of his
horse, and not being able conveniently to get any expansion shoes,
directed his smith, as a resource of necessity, to omit the nails, or
leave them out on one side of the shoe, or at least with but a single
one near the pince on the opposite side of the foot. This mode of
proceeding could not of course but occasion solicitude for the safety
of the shoes as to their coming off: finding, however, on trial that
the horse went better, and that they did not seem so dangerous as he
expected, he persisted in using them, and recommended this mode to
his friends at Coggeshall in particular, and it became with many of
them a great favourite, and afterwards extended into all the sur-
rounding parts of Essex.

Visiting France in the year 1828, and not being able to obtain a
regular supply of the expansion shoes from England for my own
grey mare, which was purchased of the Duke D'Escars, who himself
took a warm interest in these discoveries, I resorted to these shoes ;
and from a state of the most miserable decrepitude from con-
traction, brought her round to go in the most beautiful style by
their use. She was vicious in the highest degree in letting the
grooms or smiths handle her feet; but after some time would allow
me to do any thing with them I wished, without the least resistance,
no doubt from experiencing the great relief which they afforded her.
At this period I first added two broadish front clips to this shoe,
embracing the two sides of the front of the hoof, about three inches
asunder, having previously, two years before, done the same with
great advantages to the expansion shoe. These additions prevented
the shoe from being forced backwards on the pince striking the
ground, which is the way shoes most often are forced from their
place and become loose, and so applied, they proved of essential
benefit, rendering the few nails employed quite equal to the task of
holding on the shoe; and in every kind of shoeing they may be re-
sorted to, to render nails less necessary, especially those in the back

parts of the inside quarter, the main point of offence, and which
may in a general way be omitted when these clips are employed.

They also act beneficially in steadying the shoe, and, in another
respect, that they prevent the front nails, if we nail round the toe,
which we most often do in these sort of shoes, from being driven
backwards against the quick, and compressing it. In order to the
forming these clips conveniently and easily, I use a tool on purpose,
to raise the metal from the surface of the shoe, consisting of a shaft
of some length with four sharp corners to it, on one of which I raise
the clip. This shaft is inserted for this purpose into the hole of the
anvil: (see its figure in the description of the Expansion shoe, PI. 5,
fig. 3.) These clips should be made to stand fairly out on the
margin of the shoe, in order that little or no horn be removed from
the hoof for their insertion, as the loss of this defence must make the
pressure more liable to be painfully felt.

In this state it was recommended to the attention of my friend
M. Crepin, a celebrated veterinary surgeon in the Rue de Bourgogne,
in Paris, who shod his own mare with it, which had lately fallen with
him, and found in it a perfect remedy for this defect, and an in-
valuable means of restoring lame and contracted feet, and that had
refused to yield to all other treatment. M. Delaguette, of the king's
body guard, a very distinguished veterinarian, also used them with
the horses of the officers of his regiment, and with the happiest
effects. These gentlemen have both of them since nobly come
forward, publicly to attest the result of these experiments, in the
Journal Pratique of the year 1829; and several very valuable
horses in Paris were restored by this means to a state of remarkably-
fine action that before were but cripples, and almost useless. And I
have understood, that since then it has been taken up with success
by other professional gentlemen of that metropolis; and thus was
introduced the advantages of expansion shoeing into that country.
And we may here observe, that although this mode or plan of shoeing

consists merely in the omission of the nails of the common shoe, yet,
carried to the extent to which we here describe it, it may be fairly
designated a third principle of shoeing; for we have before stated
there are properly but two, viz., a shoe that was moveable in itself,
but firmly fixed by the nails, and the other, a shoe entirely without
nails, and removeable at pleasure. Here the motion or liberty is
obtained in a third way, viz., by a shoe firmly fixed by nails, but
omitting nearly the half of them on one side, the foot therefore is
left to enjoy almost its natural liberty on the other, and, for dis-
tinction, we may call this the Unilateral Principle.

My friend, Isaac Brightwen, who shoes extensively in this manner,
often bevils the heels of his shoes outwards on their upper surface,
which greatly facilitates the expansion of the free quarter, and the
horses are found to go remarkably well with it. Caution, we believe,
however, should be used with this proceeding, in not making the slope
too considerable or sudden, in order that the higher metal should
not come in contact with the inflexion or bar, which would inevitably
occasion pain and uneasiness, as we have formerly experienced. The
inclination outwards should also not be too sudden, as it might force
a degree of distention that would become painful; therefore the
slightest possible degree of slope is what we should recommend, or
an entire flat, if this slope is found oppressive; for it is obvious that
a shoe, with the heels inclining inwards in the usual way, would be
liable to prevent the expansion altogether, and compress the foot,
leading it inwards down the declivity. In this state, we may remark,
that this shoe has a distant resemblance to the shoe of old Labroue,
two-hundred years ago, but with a much more excellent effect, as his
notions about it were confined to the heels only of the foot, and went
no farther; and the foot being nailed extensively on both sides in his
shoe, but little benefit was derived from the bevilling, and not where
it was most wanted, viz., on the sides of the coffin bone. Where the
shoe itself opens and moves, no such bevilling is at all necessary, as
the hoof and shoe move and open together; but to such a shoe a

h 2

bevilling may be given to the underside of the heels, in order to
assist in forcing the shoe open on its pressing upon the ground.

The above appear to be nearly all the propositions for shoeing these
discoveries have given rise to, that are worth recording ; others have
indeed been made, but of too futile a description to deserve notice.
Two forges now, however, I have the satisfaction of saying, and from
the bigotry and senseless prejudice that at present prevails, I am
sorry to say, two only, professing to shoe on the principle of Expan-
sion, are found in this great city�one is held by my nephew,
Charles Clark, in Stamford Street, Blachfriars, whose ingenuity
and discussions on these subjects are well known to the public�and
the other by my friend, Isaac Brightwen, of South Place, Moor-
fields.

I may here just observe, in terminating my labours, that the busi-
ness of shoeing the horse, hitherto the most difficult, obscure, and
almost incomprehensible department of horse knowledge, may now
be fully understood by any one inclined to study it, and can only in
future remain obscure to the wilfully blind. Those points or matters
which the present treatise cannot with propriety embrace, will be
found treated of, and discussed in a new edition, lately published, of
a Description of the Neiv Tablet Shoe of Expansion, giving all
the requisite information upon it, and the reasons of its figure and
proportions of its parts, &c, with the best manner of forming it,
whether by hand, or of cast metal;�testimonies also accompany it
of many who have long been in the habit of using them.�

Other branches of this study, such as rearing the young horse and
his hoofs to the most perfect state�the different kinds of hoofs and
forms which they assume�on foundered feet and their treatment�the
actual manipulations of the Forge, with other miscellaneous matters,
not properly admissible in either of the former treatises, will be found
in the Stereoplea, a new edition of which is in contemplation, it
having been nearly ten years out of print. Numerous cuts, beauti-
fully executed, accompany the above works, which are sold by

Underwood, Fleet St., and Limebeer, Giltspur St., Newgate St.,
the former at 12s., and the latter at Is. Qd., and when combined with
this present work, form together, in one thin quarto volume, an entirely
new and original system of the foot of the horse, and its defence.

Simplicity and clearness have been the chief aim of the writer in
forming this work on a subject naturally deficient of expression, and
difficult: if any are offended at the strictures it contains, his only
defence will be to remind them that the first edition, which might
have been rendered severe, contained none of these, and it was not
thought necessary to use reproof till twenty years had passed over,
and it was obvious no advances or progress had been made towards
the light, or towards those truths they could not overturn, and the
establishment had become a real clog and obstruction in the fair way
of the profession. Then it was that reproach became necessary, and
we could easily show that reproaches more severe might have been
used without at all o'erstepping the bounds which truth prescribed.
And these relate only to those professors now existing at the head of
these establishments, and which, from natural causes, cannot be of
long duration, when great changes, and it is to be hoped, beneficial
ones, may be expected. It is our earnest wish, as we ardently love
the pursuits of this profession, and at great cost have laboured in it
to promote its views, to take by the hand, and give assistance to all
concerned in it that are simple-hearted and honestly inclined; and
on many occasions we have given proofs of our zeal in this respect,
though badly affording it, and receiving nothing in return but the
satisfaction accruing from the act. Public abuses are not often re-
dressed till they have once, or more than once, gone through the
operations of the printer's art, and suffered exposure. I believe the
pertinaceous blunders, and mercenary patents of the professor, would
have rendered the situation precarious to any less confident character;
and had it not been for intrigues in army appointments, his seat
would have been still less certain. About twenty regiments in the
public service require veterinary surgeons, and the appointment, or
confirmation of such appointments, have been very much left to him.

This afforded the opportunity of holding out hopes, delusive for the
most part, to many scores of pupils, for the few vacancies that might
occur, and those would of course be preferred that were the most
supple, or likely to carry on the college system.

Schools are certainly for instruction, and not for intrigues or favor-
itism for private ends : all should be allowed a fair start that either
by industry, talents, or qualifications, are rendered fit for these situ-
ations ; as well might the masters of Eton or Westminster officer our
armies, or appoint our ministers,�all dabblings, therefore, of this sort
cannot but have an injurious tendency on the general profession.
This prerogative, however, we believe to have been gratuitously
assumed by him, for appointments have lately been made without his
concurrence.

Some few of his partizans, and not wholly disinterested ones,
defeated on the main question at issue of frog-pressure, and other
matters, have endeavoured to give to the inquiry a personal turn, the
too usual course of these things, and have opened a battery of low
personal abuse of a most unfounded description, and in no way con-
nected with the question. This will not induce me to follow them
in the same line, and I hope none of my friends will engage in it,
although even in this way they might have the advantage.

It has been hard to see, after the painful efforts and exertions that
have been bestowed in making these small accessions to our know-
ledge, the wretched attempts that have been used to stifle and suppress
them, to support the interests of one or two individuals who have
done truly little for the art. The interests of the general profession
are quite otherwise, since success in practice will ever depend on the
correctness of their views, and he most serves them who contributes
to this.

It is by labour and research that a totally new system for the horse
will in time be formed, and which, it is fair to suppose, will relax his
fetters, and remove the present shameful treatment of this noble and
generous slave.

FINIS.

An Essay on turning Horses out to Grass, with a view to remedy
Contraction of their Feet.

Some explanation is due to the reader for subjoining this present
essay to our work on the foot and shoeing, but which we are almost
compelled to do on account of Plate 7 in that work, of the two coffin
bones, which properly belonged to this essay, and for which it was
originally executed. We are also induced to subjoin it to the fore-
going work, as its details afford us the important intelligence that the
foot, deeply injured by the use of the shoe, is not, as has been natu-
rally supposed, ever to be restored again to its original condition by
grass, and the removal of the shoe. And in the making these expe-
riments it was that our eyes first became opened, and which led the
way to the important truths contained in the preceding work, and to
the practical veterinarian and general horseman these facts are hardly
of less moment than those discoveries and details.

The high value of the horse will in general make his loss severely
felt, but if he is disabled, so as to be incapable of work for any
length of time, it is often attended with more serious inconvenience
and detriment than death itself; that one should apprehend any
accession of knowledge, however small, respecting him, if it has a
tendency to preserve him from being injured, cannot but be well re-
ceived, and acceptable to the public. For it may now be seen how
little these affairs of horses have been really understood, or were
likely to be so, by those who were supposed by the public " to know
them" best; and how impenetrable a bar to their being fully under-
stood did the obscure affections of the feet present! and what an
incitement to ill usage, and cloak and protection these intricacies
afforded to the machinations and knavery of the ignorant!

Our practice is very often affording fresh proofs of the extensive
injury done to horses from the want of knowledge of the facts we

are about to disclose, which we hope may induce greater caution with
people in having recourse to this seemingly-natural and obvious
remedy for the evils of contraction.

Hardly any employed in these arts could have failed to observe
that very many horses' feet became contracted by shoeing; but as it
did not occur to all alike, it made them rather refer the evil to some
defect of the feet than as being the effect of the shoe, though it
might have been seen that the finest and most perfect models of feet
were the greatest sufferers by it. And that when this contraction
was very strongly marked, and especially if attended with lameness,
the practice was, and continues so to be, to resort to measures for
expanding the heels again, believing these parts to be the chief suf-
ferers, and that the pain resided there prmcipally. Cutting the horn
of the heels away; turning to grass without shoes ; setting them to
stand in wet clay, &c, or screwing them open, are the methods
usually resorted to for this purpose ; and many, after the heels had
been thus treated, asserted confidently the great advantages that had
followed their labours : and in some instances this might be true, but
in a general way, we believe, a more close attention to facts would
have led them to think differently : for some are so blinded by pre-
conceived reasoning and notions, that facts and results, if they turn
out the very opposite to what they expect, do not in the least appear
to open their eyes�for, say they, if horses' feet suffer from con-
tracted heels, and these are opened, it must be attended with advan-
tage : the reasoning appears strong; it is, however, as we shall see,
delusive in too many cases.*

We cannot convey what we have to remark on this subject in any
way more usefully than by a faithful narrative of some of the expe-

* Mr. Moorcroft, in his little treatise, has also noticed the fact: he says, that
although these horses, after being Blistered on the coronets, and fomented daily, &c,
and turned out, come up from grass with their feet considerably expanded, they do not
appear thereby to have their lameness removed.

riments we made, and their actual results, as they occurred to us, and
which, though they embarrassed us very much at first, ultimately
served to open our eyes to the truth; but so strong did the reasons
seem for these measures of restoring feet by removing the cause, and
giving opportunity of expansion, that it was not till after much
research and repeated failure that the reason of the want of success
appeared : now it appears only matter of surprise that so obvious a
reason for this could have been so long concealed. It serves to show
how necessary it is for those who would make new discoveries, to
hold their minds open to receive impressions which may not comport
with their present reasoning, nor lean too much upon it, as it may
close the eyes to very obvious and simple truths ; it is from this pre-
judice of reasoning that discoveries when made are often lost again,
because the reasoning on which we repose cannot reconcile them, and
they go rejected till more enlightened times and views give them a
reception; on the other hand, errors supported by apparently-good
reasoning shall be continued to be practised for ages, and their ill
consequences be overlooked, though constantly accompanying them,
being stifled in the apparent reasons which supported them, till at
length more accurate research shall point out their evil tendency, and
then will appear also the fallacy of the reasons which upheld them;
or, which is more common, that the error arises from too general and
sweeping conclusions, drawn from apparently simple grounds or pre-
mises ; but where some lurking condition that is overlooked is neces-
sary in the account, and is sufficient to falsify all the conclusions and
reasonings, however clear and strong they may appear.

It would be perfectly natural and easy to conclude, that when the
shoe was removed from the foot of the horse, and his foot was left
again in its natural state, that it should recover from the effects of
its embrace, as naturally as we at night remove shoes from our feet
that have been too tight, and find in it a ready and effectual remedy
for our uneasiness : and with horses it would be as confidently ima-
gined, that if their shoes were removed, the same good effects should

as naturally ensue : hence the difficulty of apprehending a different
result. And long have these measures been acted upon, led by pre-
sumptive opinion, and believing in it though false.

The fallacy of the reasoning is now obvious enough; the horse's
foot in nothing resembles the human, and the shoe is a bar of iron
that has no similitude to our leather shoes; and the perpetuity of its
application has no correspondence to the removal of ours every night.
That similarity of names merely has served to beguile our reasoning
in this respect: a relation of the experiments themselves, in which
we have endeavoured as much as possible to divest ourselves of any
bias, will better serve to unfold the real effects than a generalizing
narrative of the results.

In the month of April, 1804, a Mr. Mangnall applied to me for
assistance respecting his horse, a handsome bay hunting gelding, well
bred, and about fifteen hands and a half high. A complaint was
made of his being tender on one fore foot, blundering with it fre-
quently, so as to endanger his coming down. There appeared no
swelling or external appearance in the limb that would indicate a
strain or preternatural heat, or other cause for it, which led me to
apprehend that a pinching shoe, or a nail too close, might be the
cause of the evil. I ordered the shoes to be removed, the foot pared
out, and the nail-holes to be examined, and a new nailing and shoe
to be used; the foot to be immersed in cold water, and to be after-
wards stopped with emollient stoppings. These were applied for
some days, but with little relief; complaint was still made of his
manner of going, and an anxious desire expressed of parting with
him, to avoid expenses, which perhaps before had been found but too
often of little avail. He proposed the purchase of him to me, with
all faults ; and I purchased him at once for 241. Apprehending, with
tolerable confidence, that it had been, or was the effect only of the
embrace of the nails of the shoes and of contraction that had caused
this defective going, and that by a few weeks turning out to grass he
would be restored, and become a valuable horse, I had the shoes

removed, and turned him to grass in a field near Peckham, having
first pared the hoof thinner, that it might make the less resistance to
the expansion of the heels, as we called it. On having him up from
grass, about six weeks after, I could not but be struck with the sin-
gular alteration of figure that had taken place with both his fore feet,
but more especially the near one, which was the tender one. The
toe, to use a phrase of the smiths, had " run out," and appeared
longer; the quarters or sides of the foot had become flattened and
almost bent inwards; the heels had somewhat opened, and were pro-
jected more backwards, or at least appeared so, that his foot had
more the appearance of a square than a round; his chest was re-
tracted and hollow,�a frequent but not a constant attendant of pains
in the feet; he stepped short and tender, and went near the ground,
and on his toes as much as he could; his hoof also appeared bent in
in front, or was incurvated about the middle region of its height, and
assumed somewhat of a twisted figure.

Having no knowledge or suspicion at this time of the effect of the
nails, I was wholly at a loss to account for these appearances : ap-
prehending, however, that, whatever it was, a more complete ex-
pansion of the foot would probably remove it, I resolved to send him
to grass again, by which I hoped soon to obtain the benefit I appre-
hended must ensue. After being at grass several weeks longer, I
had him brought up again ; and, having occasion for his services, de-
termined to use him, and not to apply the shoes, that the expansion,
from the exercise and the additional weight of the rider, might be
the more effectually accomplished : and this I continued to do for
several weeks, using him only at times, as his hoofs would bear it;
notwithstanding, he went painfully crippling and tender; and some-
times at grass, and sometimes in use, this I continued in the practice
of for several months; for though it was during this period my sus-
picions began to be awake to the probable influence of the nails, and
the former experiment to detect it was made, yet I saw no reason

i 2

why feet should not be restored again if the cause were removed.
Sometimes he would put forth his feet with considerable boldness,
and go tolerably fair ; but for the most part his pace was miserably
crippling and tender, and saving his feet. This difference I have
since believed was the mere effect of the spirits he happened to be
in to endure pain, or his insensibility to it, or from the manner he was
fed, or the state of the atmosphere : he tripped, however, and hobbled,
both with and without shoes, that riding became highly dangerous.
Finding these measures not likely to restore him, and that longer
perseverance promised no advantage, and tired of the ill success and
expenses of the experiment, which had now been continued more
than a twelvemonth, I broke him in for harness, and resolved to sell
him, but with bad success also for several months more, and at last
sent him to Tattersall's, to be sold for whatever he might fetch,
which was little more than one half of what I had given for him. I
drew no other conclusions from this experiment at the time, than
that there must have been some other evil than the contraction of
the feet to account for his not being relieved. Still confident in the
efficacy of the means, a few months before 1 sold this horse, I bought
another also, a brown hunter, of a Mr. Forster, whose feet were
tender before, and from corns, as he had been told; but on examining
his feet, and finding there was nothing of the kind, I apprehended
contraction was the sole cause here also; and the removal of the
shoes, and turning out, would set his feet to rights again. I pur-
chased him for about the same sum, and sent him to the same grass
field, to be company for the former. The bars were pared away
from the frog; the heels, as we are used to express it, were well
opened, the quarters rasped thin, the hoof smeared with emollient
ungents, &c, that there might be as little resistance as possible to its
expansion; and nothing that we could devise, with a prospect of ad-
vantage, was omitted. Briefly, he became very nearly in all respects
the same as the former; his hoof fell in at the quarters, his chest

became retracted, and his action the same as the former; and I sent
them both on the same day to Tattersall's for sale, with a similar
result.

The ill success of these experiments made me more cautious, but
did not at all open my eyes to the cause of their failure. Hoping
still to obtain a valuable and sound horse by expanding their feet, I
purchased, late in the autumn of the same year, a favourite brown
gelding, suiFering evidently from contraction, of a Mr. Soley, an emi-
nent surgeon in London; and resolved to try stronger expedients
with him, and to give the utmost opportunity for the desired expan-
sion of the foot.

I was very desirous of restoring him to soundness, on account of
his good temper and inestimable qualities. We shall call him Tippoo,
the name we received with him. He was bred by Mr. Shum, a-
brewer, and, as I learnt afterwards, had early been shod and brought
into use : he was sold for tripping, for he had no vice; and I bought
him Oct. 7, 1804. His fore feet were tender, going with short steps,
and very much on his toes, which appeared evidently to proceed from
the contraction of his feet, (his heels as I then apprehended,) and the
following measures were used for restoring him. He was seven years
old, consequently had been shod about four years, or four years and
a half.

Many expedients occurred to me for forcing the heels open mecha-
nically, as by screws, springs, wedges, and the like, or by the means
St. Bel used to propose, by bevilling the heels of the shoe outwardly
instead of inwards; yet from what I had seen of the want of success
attending such measures, and from considering also that if the heels
were forced open, unless there was something within that could
support them in that state, it could be of no real or permanent
utility, I did not pursue any of them; and from reflecting that living
sensitive parts cannot bear much restraint or violent mechanical dis-
tension, or endure very sudden alterations of form, unless accom-
panied by a slow process of growth to maintain them; and if disten-

sion was oppressively made, he should have it in his power to relieve
himself, which mechanical violence will not admit of, for alteration
may be too rapid to be useful. Rejecting therefore these, I con-
sidered the hoof divested of the shoe, and moistened by grass and
dews, and with a deep channel cut with a drawing knife longitudinally
down the front of the hoof, that there might be the less resistance
to the expansion of the sides, as sufficient. Further, however, to
assist these measures, the inflexions were thinned, and the horn
pared away from the sides of the frog.

Anxious for his restoration, for the reasons I have stated, I deter-
mined to spare no pains in the accomplishment of it, and turned him
out to grass in the fields near Paddington; and conceiving my former
experiments had failed from a want of sufficient expansion only, I
determined to carry it in this case as far as possible; and attended
him almost every week at grass, and continually kept thin the new
growing horn, and smeared his hoofs with a compound of wax, tallow,
and tar, in order to keep them supple, and prevent the effects of the
wet. The frog frequently exfoliated; and it was in attending him
there that the nature of these exfoliations first became known to me,
as explained in the former part of this work : this part grew much
larger, and the clefts and chops, which had formed from cutting and
exposure to the dry air of the stable, became very slowly closed and
grown out; also a thrush, in the same manner, became dried up, and
ceased to discharge, and was without irritation; but the two surfaces
or halves did never perfectly unite, from want of powers in the frog-
stay. At Paddington, Peckham, and in various places, he was kept
during two whole years, and in the winter at straw-yard at Barnet,
&c.; occasionally he was rode and drove without shoes, to observe
the progress and effects of the remedy, and that the weight and un-
equal pressure afforded by the road might further assist: but after
all this, though his feet became widened, I could not discover much
amendment in his going, but thought him on the whole rather the
worse for what had been done. I still, however, hoped the removal

of the cause, and the advantages of it would one day appear, perhaps
on its being more perfectly completed, and kept him on several
months beyond the period I have stated; but at last grew so tired of
the expenses, and ill success that attended it, that I determined on
liis sale, and it was with some difficulty that I at length sold him.
The gentleman who purchased him complaining of his dangerous
mode of going, I took him again, and kept him in all full three years ;
but finding no benefit, and rather than have this worthy creature
pass through the using up service, I had him destroyed, though for
coach work he might have brought me from ten to twelve pounds
perhaps. I did not, however, yet see why the foot should not
recover on the removal of the cause of the mischief.

Beginning, however, now to apprehend that the want of success
was occasioned by the feet being undertaken too late, I next bought
a young bay Welsh mare, that was stated to have been shod not
more than two or three times; though I was afterwards led to believe
from her age, which was three years and a half, and from considering
the practices of the country from whence she came, where young
horses are made, even at a year old, to do a deal of heavy, improper
drudgery in tillage, and in conveying wood, coals, iron, &c, (which
often strains and ruins them before they are even brought to market,)
that she had been shod nearly or quite two years. I entered, how-
ever, with tolerable confidence on the experiment, on account of her
age, and hoped to get a sound mare by it. I cut away and thinned
out the horn of the inflexions, and rasped the hoofs till the blood
almost appeared, pared the sole thin, and turned her to grass at
Peckham; indeed, that she might have no risk in travelling, this
process was performed in the very field she ran in; and after fairly
trying the experiment nine or ten months, I still found the same
results as in the former, for she went rather worse than better, though
at first advantages appeared to attend these proceedings; and after
some time her sole appeared more sunk or prominent before the
point of the frog than it ought to be, and the hoof rather incurvated

in front, her step became very contracted and tender; and after
nearly two years keeping, exposed to all the measures I could devise
for expanding them, I sold her at a considerable loss, more a cripple
than I bought her.

These repeated disappointments damped my expectation of success;
and the expenses of them were severely felt; for in the removal of
the cause, the remedy appeared so natural and certain, that any other
than a successful result could hardly be believed: this uniform
failure, however, led me more attentively to consider if some other
change than mere contraction might not have happened to the foot
during this collapse of the hoof, and which reflections finally disclosed
the true cause of our want of success. Before, however, we �nter
on this explanation, we shall briefly relate the result of yet another
experiment made about this time, which, as it contains some further
remarks and particulars than are contained in the preceding experi-
ments, may not be without its use; for in seeking the truth by expe-
riment, we ought not to disguise any circumstances that occur, how-
ever contrary they may appear to our present views or wishes. We
were greatly incited to this last trial by the cheap terms on which we
were offered the subject of it, a stout chesnut hackney gelding, about
six years old, with rather flat feet, which kind, we have before re-
marked, are not so soon injured by the influence of the iron. He
had been from some cause or other so offended by the shoeing smiths,
that he would not let one of this fraternity approach him, much less
suffer them to touch his legs. When I bought him, he was not reco-
vered from marks of violence, which he had got by being confined in
a trevis; and now that mode of confinement was become imprac-
ticable, for he would not suffer himself to be blinded, or approached
with a twitch, or any of the other measures used in such cases, but
would exhibit the most determined resolution to use all the means he
possessed of offensive warfare; if a smith entered the stable, for he
could smell him at a distance, he gave warning by furiously blowing
and snorting. This horse was one day inadvertently led into a

shoeing shed, by one not acquainted with his scruples in this respect,
and getting loose, he with heels and teeth soon cleared the premises
of every individual, who were happy enough in being able to escape
his rage. Being almost useless on this account to his owner, I pur-
chased him for about half his value, and made him the subject of a
very troublesome series of experiments on a new means of shoeing;
for it was become very obvious that if the expansion of the feet was
effected, the application of the original cause would very soon reduce
them to the same state again, that some other mode of defence
therefore appeared necessary. And I so far ingratiated myself with
him as to remove his shoes, though not without great caution, and
some threatenings on his part; and he was kept for nearly two whole
years in the stable during these trials; and if he was rode out, it was
without shoes, or with those I applied without nails. His feet under
these circumstances (for no particular measures were employed for
their expansion) grew larger in all respects, corroborating the experi-
ment with the Huntingdon chesnut mare already related, showing
that the stable is not alone a sufficient cause for contraction; and
this horse would go better without shoes than any I had before tried,
though somewhat crippling and tender, and subject to heats after
exercise in the feet and coronets, and would stand sweating in the
shoulders and chest for hours afterwards: the expansion having
been more slowly effected than in the foregoing experiments, and
without cutting or rasping was, I believe, favourable to him. And in
the course of making these experiments, a circumstance occurred
that gave me much satisfaction; for I found if the horn of the bars,
or inflexures of the hoof, was pared away and cleared from the sides
of the frog, it greatly contributed to the pleasantness of his going.
We should state also that the heels of this horse at length became
tender, and with bruises, or corns, as they are called, arising perhaps,
in part, from the flatness of his feet, and lowness of those parts
naturally, and also from the heels, which by shoeing had become
stiff, and had suffered a loss of part of their elastic provisions, were

unfitted for use ; for with unshod feet, in the perfectly-natural state,
which we since have had several opportunities of trying, these things
did not occur : and we should also mention, as a circumstance par-
ticularly worth attention, that after some time the frog-stay split in
this horse, with a dry cleft; and this at length became a running
frush, and discharged a foetid moisture, a circumstance which the
more surprised me, as pressure on this part, according to the gene-
rally-prevailing doctrine of the times on this subject, should have
rather suppressed than created a frush. The same circumstance also
occurred to two other horses I tried that had been shod, and which
I am the more induced to state, that others, endeavouring to avoid
the evils of shoeing, and who may have recourse to the shod foot, as
some within my knowledge have done, may be aware of the diffi-
culties they will be liable to.

As the circumstance is alluded to in a former page of this work,
we think it right to make mention of it here, that, whilst employing
these removeable shoes, though often indifferently made, by our own
hands, this horse never used to cut with them, though they had the
appearance of danger in this respect; but on one or two occasions,
for longer journeys than usual, he was shod with the ordinary shoes,
with nails, with which he uniformly cut himself; and which led me
to suspect that numbness from the pressure of the nails was an occa-
sional cause of horses' cutting : for after a considerable time, this
horse would permit a man, not dressed as a smith, to fasten on his
shoes, if I was present and encouraged him. But some time after-
wards becoming tender of the near leg, from an old strain, got pro-
bably by being put in the trevis, and from the other circumstances
we have mentioned, we were induced to send him also to Tattersall's,
where he was sold for about a third of his original cost.

I was now induced to give more attention to the condition of the
coffin-bone in those horses that had been shod, though without much
expectation of its leading to any thing important, and procured seve-
ral from the slaughter-house, and macerated them so as to get them

clean from their envelopements; but from these no conclusions could
be drawn, having no bone in its natural state to compare them with,
and, for aught I knew, the appearance they made might be the natu-
ral one. At length, a three-year old natural bone was obtained,
which gave me proof of these bones being changed materially in
their structure by the operation of the shoe ; and some time after-
wards, through my worthy friend Mr. Bloxham, veterinary surgeon,
of the Royal Guards, I obtained one that was four years old, from a
horse that died with his first shoes on. The extraordinary exterior
of this bone was delineated most accurately from nature by the
pencil (to which I have been before so often indebted) of my much
esteemed friend Mr. Sydenham Edwards, and was carefully copied in
the engraving by Mr. Sansum. We may see in its surface an organi-
zation of extraordinary beauty, perhaps more so than is to be found
in the bone of any other animal: see PI. 7, fig. 1.

On the same plate is given also the representation of the coffin
bone of a horse about eight or nine years old, (see PI. 7. fig. 2,) that
had been uniformly shod ; and the difference of their form and sur-
faces will sufficiently exhibit the cause of our want of success in
restoring feet. For the general figure of the bone is changed, and
the beautiful organization of its surface has undergone almost perfect
obliteration, that if there be any convenience or use in this remark-
able construction, it is now lost.

The sides of this bone, from a wide or enlarged crescent, have now
assumed a flat oval figure, and from sloping, have become nearly
upright. The patiloha, with its exquisite configuration, is entirely
lost, and the surface, where it formerly existed, exhibits a collection
of ragged cells and cavities with hard sharpened edges, and which
surfaces have been usually hitherto given as the natural surfaces of
this part of the bone. The physiologist well knows there can be no
regeneration or reproduction of a bone so diminished.

On the same plate is also seen, at fig. 3, a view of one extremity
or retros of the coffin bone, having a portion of the cartilage ossified,

and adhering to its upper edge, in the way it is found in many horses
after they have been shod a few years, showing the commencement,
as well as the direction that these ossifications usually take in their
growth, and which at length rising above the hoof to the sight and
touch,. are then called ring-bones, being found in the circle or ring
of the coronet.

The general conclusions, which these experiments seem to afford
us, are these :�In the two first experiments it was observed that the
hoof became incurvate, or bent inwards in front, a circumstance we
have since noticed very frequently with horses turned to grass with-
out shoes, and which appears to arise from the coffin bone sinking
under the weight, and dragging the hoof after it, and which, we
apprehend, is occasioned by the operation of several causes. The
general frame of the hoof being now unsustained by the shoe and
the nails, and moistened by the dews and the wet ground, is softened,
and thinned also by the rasp or the knife, gives way, and opens in all
directions; the inflexions, which had been for a long time closely
confined, suddenly open also, and extending, dilate the horny furch,
and thus diminishes its power of support to the parts above ; the
shoe and nails being away, the sole also will flatten, and its commis-
sural ridge, or line of union of the bar, sole, and furch, will sink,
and no longer afford support to the parts above, and these will incline,
or be drawn downwards; also the coffin bone itself diminished and
absorbed, as we have before explained, will be forced down either
alone, or bringing the front of the hoof along with it: in the one
case we have a decided founder; in the other, a pedimota, or a flat-
tened, or a protuberating sole, and inflected hoof.

The flattening of the sides of the hoof also, that we have observed
frequently to happen if horses are turned to grass, seems to arise
either from a partial descent of the coffin bone, or by a rapid absorp-
tion of the sides of the bone itself; for it would appear not impro-
bable, that although the nails, acting by pressure against the sides of
the bone, occasion its absorption, yet permit it only to proceed in a

certain ratio, depending on their application ; but that after their re-
moval, this disposition to absorption which they communicate to the
foot, can perhaps proceed with greater rapidity, that is, if the hoof
be rendered flexible enough in this part to fall in and follow it, than
when the shoe is on. The running to toe, and its enlargement, may
also be another cause of these parts diminishing.

In the experiment with the bay mare, the hoof, from being very
much thinned, and naturally not very strong, the coffin bone de-
scended so as to bear on the sole, creating a fulness there, and bring-
ing on a species of imperfect founder, that the experiment is not
conclusive as to the benefit that might be derived from turning out
at this age, though it may serve, however, as a useful warning not to
resort to the application of similar measures with such kind of feet.

The experiment with Tippoo seems decisively to show that three
years of liberty, or nearly so, of the foot, is insufficient to do away
the effects of five years of shoeing, with all the assistance that can
prudently be given it, that is, if the shoes, as was his fate, have been
applied at an early age.

The important conclusion we draw from these experiments and
facts, and which we wish to impress forcibly on the reader's attention,
is, that after the foot has been exposed for a certain time to the opera-
tion of the iron, it becomes so much changed from its natural state, that
it is more adviseable for it to remain in the diminished and fixed con-
dition to ivhich it is reduced, than by any measures, especially severe
or coercive ones, to attempt its restoration ; as any sudden or violent
change appears to disturb the foot and bring on morbid affections,
rather than the healthy condition of the part; so that a continuance
of it in this state appears the lesser evil, or even an advance of the
mischief, if it be a very slow and uniform one, is to be preferred.
Such appears the disclosure and unfolding of this mysterious matter,
and which, though it may appear simple when explained, has been
a most seductive and perpetual stumbling-block to people both in
and out of the profession.

The exposure of the foot for a few days or weeks without shoes at __
grass, if the foot be strong, with a view merely to cool the foot, or
remove any casual compression from a nail, is not intended to be in-
cluded in the above caution ; but from further exposure, detrimental
effects may be apprehended. In the course of our professional
labours, we have often been called to feet lamed and disfigured by �-
turning out, and have recommended, as speedily as possible, the re-
application of the shoe, as the best resource, in order to bring back
the fixed state of the foot; but for a long period after, we have seen
them to go very crippling, and that accidents, and the sale of such
horses have generally followed.

How long, after the shoe has been in use, we may turn out without
it with good effect, remains to be ascertained, as this will depend
very much upon the constitution of the foot; for the variations of
the hoof are very great, and very different effects will arise upon
similarly constituted feet, according to the period of life at which the
shoeing commenced, and the manner of its having been conducted.
Certain it is, that few think of having recourse to these measures till
serious inconvenience be felt; and then it will be found, in a general
way, too late to do much good; that such means cannot certainly be
resorted to too early.

Those horses which have been shod, and used with expansion shoes,
will better bear exposure than the others with common shoes; and
with the expansion shoes, if no great allowance of motion is made,
(for it can easily be regulated,) the most perfect security from injury
may be relied upon, and their feet be usefully relieved.

In terminating this work, we may observe, that the facts and the
knowledge contained in the preceding pages are such as Veterinary
Colleges were instituted to discover, and to lay before the public for
general advantage, as well as for that of the profession ; but it
appears that the principals, having lost their way among the briars
and thorns of false doctrine, have endeavoured to keep real improve-

ments out of sight. Nor is it altogether on my own account that I
have so often adverted to their conduct in this respect; but on
account of a large body of men, whose interests have suffered by it,
and who have been taught erroneously, and conceived prejudices in
consequence greatly to their own and my injury.

False theories spread with ease, and are often more fascinating
than the real truth, as she generally comes surrounded with her
numerous train of circumstances and conditions ; she may be said to
rise as from a deep and obscure well, gradually and slowly, sifting her
dubious way as she advances to the light; when arrived, however,
she is a rich reward, verifying every thing she proposes, and becomes
to the anxious practitioner a true delight.

Gablter, Printer, Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.-



	PODOPHTHORA; OR, THE DEMONSTRATION OF A PERNICIOUS DEFECT IN THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON SHOE.

	The preceding notices of the foot having now placed us in a con- dition easily to apprehend the results of the following experiments in illustration of the shoeing, previously to entering upon them, we believe it may be well just to remark, that for a period of more than a thousand years has the present mode of shoeing been in use, with- out the public being at all aware that there was any thing wrong or injurious about it, if it was but properly executed; and though accidents, and unequivocal expressions of suffering accompanied it continually, and were visible to the eye of every one, yet no one ventured to think upon a subject that appeared so abstruse; or if he did, was it likely to be received but with rebuff and insolence : and the mischiefs arising from it were constantly evaded or denied, and were attempted to be overcome in every way but the proper and natural one,�that of removing the cause,�-which cause also was, to the simple as to the more knowing ones, alike unperceived. And many has been the bribe,, bestowed through timid fear and apprehension, to encourage the workman " to shoe his horse well," without the donor at all entertaining any fixed notion of what that " good shoeing" should consist in; for it is lamentably true that the mere labourer in any art may practice it all his life long, and that for cen- turies he may exercise it without his once entering a single step into a2



	II to increase the mischief,�the attempt at expanding feet so contracted having cost us more attention and expense than almost any other part of our studies and labours respecting the horse, we shall give the general result of them on some future occasion. Indeed it was in making those fruitless attempts that we were first led to see the true nature of the evil; for it is singular, that those views of con- tracted heels were not at all accompanied with any right apprehension of the true cause and origin of the mischief; that it is very possible to see without perceiving things most obvious, and to perceive and yet not fully understand; so difficult is it to overcome preconceived notions which w^re doubt not the truth of, or entertain that which our suspicions are not awakened to ; and obscure and repulsive are the paths which lead to light. Seen by itself, there are many now who would deny there was any contraction at all in the foot, tab. 8 ; and more would say it was not of the smallest consequence, because they had been used to see feet much more contracted; and as far as it extends at present, it will not be so much felt as to be made sensible, by external indications at least, while the shoe is used, the animal being patient and courageous in bearing any necessary pain. But that a defect, of an injurious nature to the foot, exists, can be proved even here; for by experi- ments in similar cases we have found, that by taking off the shoe, and using the foot only a few miles on the road, it will acquire con- siderable heat, and be inflamed in a way that would not, in the smallest degree, have taken place in the natural foot; and arising, as appears, from a deficiency of the elastic parts of the foot, which by pressure, or want of use, or both, have been condensed or absorbed, and their uses being again called for in this experiment, for the well- being and ease of the foot, painful sensations and inflammation are created by the want of them. For it is not from external resistance, as would at first appear, that this pain arises, for this resistance, it is evident, will be more complete when the shoe is on the foot, but from b 2



	22 be absorbed, which condensation, or loss, must be followed by sen- sations to the animal which it would be difficult to define or ascertain ; we should, however, be reasonably led to expect a degree of numb- ness from the compression, attended with faintness, or a dull, aching pain. An impeded circulation of the foot will be one of the obvious consequences ; and whether the elastic processes are not injured by being compressed from a diminished area of the hoof, is not easily ascertained : in very old cases we have thought them paler than the natural ones, and not so broad. That this compression in the latter stages of shoeing is attended with severe suffering (whatever may be the degree of feeling in this stage of the business) is certain, since neither the spur or whip, however severely inflicted, will make the animal for many minutes together put out and use his feet to the full extent of their natural action, or set them fairly to the ground. If now any thing unsafe or disagreeable begins to be experienced, the rider will be led to suspect that idleness or carelessness is the cause, or weakness of the limbs, or, which is as usual, that the horse is somehow not well shod; and finding that chastisement does not long avail, or prevent him from tripping and being tender, and unac- quainted with the actual changes which have been going on in the feet, and considering the shoe as a natural and beneficial defence, and not aware of its defective principle, he will attribute his diffi- culties to a variety of causes, neither of which may be the true one; he may become desirous of investigating and obtaining a knowledge of the shoeing art; its abuses and errors will strongly arrest his attention, nor will the slow and invisible operation of the shoe upon the foot probably become a matter of his observation : seeking infor- mation from the grooms, he will perhaps be first recommended to try good shoeing, and to have recourse to some more knowing limb of the business, who, "from practising shoeing all his life, must know the thing well," and who will be expected, by some cunning trick or device, to rescue him from his difficulties; but in this he may also be grievously disappointed: harness will probably be recommended to



	54 road, some artificial defence is necessary; or whether, by refraining from early shoeing, except with tips, the mischief may be greatly palliated, and we must rest content with that ? or if we may look for a total removal of the evil in all cases by shoes on a principle widely different ? Time has hardly been sufficient for us to consider and answer all these inquiries; nor do we consider ourselves pledged, in consequence of these discoveries of the defects of the present system, to find a remedy; since it has been much to point out a gross evil, that was scarcely before suspected, and certainly not seen in its true light. We believe, however, that preventative measures may be resorted to, to a great extent, and remove a considerable share of the evil, without much inconvenience and loss of labour; and of the remedial means in part, or perhaps wholly, we can, after much reflection, hold forth promising expectations, and which we believe will not be disappointed. The above extracts, taken from my former edition, serve to exhibit the state of things at the time of concluding that work, about the year 1812. At that period, my views and attempts were considered as quite visionary, and I often experienced the reproach of having discovered an evil for which there was no remedy. But what is still more singular, nine years elapsed, with all the above facts before the public, without the least proposition from any one for the removal of the mischief, as though the case was indeed hopeless. Having, years before the commencement of publishing that work, seen how advan- tageous would be the disuse of nails, and conceiving that shoes might be attached without them, and be made removeable at pleasure, I had been long occupied with this object; and afterwards, from be- ginning to see the full effect of the nails, I redoubled my efforts, and, sanguine in the success of it, secured my rights for a shoe of this kind by a patent; but after a long and tedious trial, abandoned it, as being too troublesome for general use, though great advantages had been fully proved by their use on several occasions. I then, fatigued and injured in my health, quitted these shoes, and resolved upon



	74 unfitted for use ; for with unshod feet, in the perfectly-natural state, which we since have had several opportunities of trying, these things did not occur : and we should also mention, as a circumstance par- ticularly worth attention, that after some time the frog-stay split in this horse, with a dry cleft; and this at length became a running frush, and discharged a foetid moisture, a circumstance which the more surprised me, as pressure on this part, according to the gene- rally-prevailing doctrine of the times on this subject, should have rather suppressed than created a frush. The same circumstance also occurred to two other horses I tried that had been shod, and which I am the more induced to state, that others, endeavouring to avoid the evils of shoeing, and who may have recourse to the shod foot, as some within my knowledge have done, may be aware of the diffi- culties they will be liable to. As the circumstance is alluded to in a former page of this work, we think it right to make mention of it here, that, whilst employing these removeable shoes, though often indifferently made, by our own hands, this horse never used to cut with them, though they had the appearance of danger in this respect; but on one or two occasions, for longer journeys than usual, he was shod with the ordinary shoes, with nails, with which he uniformly cut himself; and which led me to suspect that numbness from the pressure of the nails was an occa- sional cause of horses' cutting : for after a considerable time, this horse would permit a man, not dressed as a smith, to fasten on his shoes, if I was present and encouraged him. But some time after- wards becoming tender of the near leg, from an old strain, got pro- bably by being put in the trevis, and from the other circumstances we have mentioned, we were induced to send him also to Tattersall's, where he was sold for about a third of his original cost. I was now induced to give more attention to the condition of the coffin-bone in those horses that had been shod, though without much expectation of its leading to any thing important, and procured seve- ral from the slaughter-house, and macerated them so as to get them



	PODOPHTHORA,