Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/544

by William Moorcroft,^[1] assistant professor, and afterwards the daring explorer of Central Asia. After describing, like some of his later predecessors, the anatomy of the foot and the principles which ought to prevail in its defence, and pointing out that in proportion as a greater quantity of crust is brought to bear flat on the shoe the firmer the horse must stand; and the less pressure that takes place between the sole and the shoe, the less chance will there be of his being lamed, he speaks of various shoes. As those intended for the fore-feet have always, and rightly, been looked upon as the most important, considering that they have to bear the principal portion of the weight, and that the fore-feet are by far the most frequently lamed, the defences for this region will only be noticed here. Moorcroft describes the narrow shoe, or plate—a flat shoe, the exact breadth of the crust, and of a moderate thickness: this was only serviceable for racing-horses and hunters, 'A flat shoe, of the exact breadth of the crust, and of a moderate thickness, would defend this part sufficiently as long as it lasted; but as it would wear out in a few days, or even in a few hours, when the friction happened to be violent, and as very frequent shoeing is expensive, as well as hurtful to the hoof itself, this kind of shoe is only fit for racing, or hunting on soft ground.'^[2] Then the shoe with a flat upper surface, and broader than the crust, is figured. This he thinks objectionable, as it would press on a portion of the sole and cause lameness; so that, to avoid such a mishap, the sole is required to be pared or hollowed out, which

1. Cursory Account of the Various Methods of Shoeing Horses. London, 1800.
2. Op. cit., p. 6.