Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/523

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LA FOSSE THE YOUNGER.
495

do more than refer to his half-circle shoeing, which was intended, like that of his parent, to prevent horses from slipping on the stones:

'Half-circle shoeing for Carriage Horses. As the preceding method of shoeing would not prevent the horse from slipping when he first places his foot on slippery ground, seeing that the toe comes down before the other parts, and that is entirely covered with iron, we use a half-circle shoe. This ought to be on the sides from the nail-holes more exact than the foot, and put on in such a manner that the whole of the crust projects beyond one-half of its thickness around its circumference.

'After reasonably shortening the foot with the corner of the boutoir, a groove is made within the wall adjoining the horny sole; into this channel the hot shoe is fitted. It is afterwards attached with small nails, whose heads are to be half buried in the holes, and the sharp margin of the crust is to be rasped away, to prevent chipping of the horn. With this shoeing, the horse goes on the whole of the crust, either in ascending or descending.

'A third kind of half-circle shoeing for Saddle Horses. The half-circle or shoe ought to be from two to three lines in width, and one and a half in thickness. It ought to have 10 holes equally distributed and counter-pierced on the same side; consequently, the nails should be very small. It is placed in the same manner as the preceding, from which it only differs in width and in having one hole more. A horse shod in this manner is lighter; his movements are more elastic, firmer on a dry slippery pavement, and are more agreeable to the rider.'

In England, a treatise on the anatomy and diseases of