they prevent slipping; the roads being hard, three nails are required—two in the outer branch, and one in the inner.'
Reverting to the defective shoeing of his time, he endeavours to demonstrate, that by removing the horn of the frog and points of the heels from the ground, the animal's footing on paved roads is much less secure. 'The draught-horse first places his weight on the toe, then on the two sides of the hoof, and afterwards the heels are lowered to meet the heel of the shoe. The saddle-horse rests more lightly on the toe. The cannon (or shank bone) presses on the pastern-bone, this on the coronary, and this again on the coffin and navicular bones. From this disposition, we should note two important points which throw light on the defects of the present method, and indicate how to remedy them; one is, that the strain of the weight is neither fixed on the toe nor heel, but between the two; the other, that the more the frog is removed from the ground or from any point of support, the more the pressure of the coronary on the navicular bone fatigues the tendon on which it rests, in consequence of the excessive extension it experiences at each step the horse takes. The frog ought therefore to rest on the ground, as much for the facility as for the surety of the horse's movements; as the larger the frog is, so the less do the heels meet the ground; and the more the heels are relieved, the greater ease does the horse experience in progression. The only way to insure this is to shoe him according to the method I have indicated, as this causes him to walk on his frog, which is the natural prop or basis (point d'appui) for the flexor tendon.'
The whole aim of Lafosse's teaching appears to have
