Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/618

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HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING.

forced itself so strongly on M. Charlier, that only partial incrustation was resorted to in 1866; the shoe being made a trifle wider and thicker, and the groove for its reception much shallower, and certainly not exceeding the thickness of the sole. It appears clips were also added, to prevent the shoe driving back against the sensitive part of the foot. So great an alteration had been made, that instead of 'preplantar,' Professor Bouley designated it 'presolar' shoeing. Its use on the hind-feet was nearly, if not quite, discontinued, as these organs are of little importance, so far as shoeing and disease are concerned, when compared with those in front; and the wear was so severe at the toes, the thinnest part of the hind-feet, that the encircling bands could not be made strong enough to last for a reasonable period, neither could they be imbedded deep enough with safety.

Veterinary Surgeon Signol, who devoted much time and attention to the new shoes and their application when experiments began to be made with them, reports that those used on the omnibus horses of Paris weighed on the average 850 grammes (30 ounces); they were from 18 to 20 millimetres thick (7 to 8-10ths of an inch), and were incrusted in the wall of the hoof to a depth of 15 millimetres (6-10ths of an inch); they had toe-clips. On the fore-feet, these shoes lasted 30, and on the hind-feet 28 days. More than 500 feet were shod within the space of six months; and the advantages noted during that period (1866) were: 1. Economy in material to the extent of at least 250 to 300 grammes each shoe, and even more, as some of the ordinary shoes weighed as much as 2 kilogrammes (4.409 pounds). 2. In consequence of the