erinary Medical
Association, the late Mr. Olver said he had applied this shoe to a valuable
hunter that had gone so lame that he could scarcely put his foot to the
ground. After a fortnight's application, and by the assistance of the
double screw in the shoe, the heel was forced out. Then the horse was put
to work with the shoe on, and he had hunted the whole of the last season in
a perfectly sound condition.[A]

[Footnote A: _Veterinary Record_, vol. vi., p. 143]

F.D. McLaren, M.R.C.V.S., writes:[A] 'I resolved to try one of Captain
Smith's shoes in a case where the hoof was badly contracted, and where the
frog had entirely disappeared, there being also slight lameness. The roof
rapidly expanded, and every other day the nut was moved on a bit to keep
the cross-piece tight. I then had the cross-piece bent downwards a little
_to prevent the nut pressing on the rapidly-growing frog_.[B] After another
fortnight or so, I had a shoe made with clips resting against the inside of
the bars,[C] and the next time he was shod these were also dispensed with.
It is now a year ago since the animal recovered his frog, and he still has
the largest frog in the stable, and the hoof shows no sign of contraction.'

[Footnote A: _Ibid_., vol. vi., p. 183]

[Footnote B: The italics are mine (H.C.R.).]

[Footnote C: The expanding shoe itself was here evidently dispensed with,
and an ordinary shoe with bar-clips used in its stead (H.C.R.).]

_(b) De Fay's_.--Among other shoes of the expansion class may be mentioned
that of De Fay. Like the preceding, it is a shoe with a flat bearing
surface, and provided with bar-clips. It is, however, _un_ hinged. The
requisite degree of periodic expansion is in this case arrived at by a
forcible widening of the heels of the shoe, accomplished by bending
the substance of which it is made, and for this purpose the instrument
illustrated in Fig. 75 is employed.

The foot is first properly trimmed by levelling the heels and thinning
the sole on each side of the frog. The shoe is then fixed by nails in the
ordinary manner, taking care that the last nails come not too far back, and
that the clips rest evenly and firmly on the inside of the bars.

The dilator, hoof-spreader, or vice, as it is variously called, is then
applied, its two jaws (_a_ and _b_) fitting against the inner edge of
the shoe at the heels. Careful note is taken of the width of the hoof as
measured on the graduated scale (_e_, _e_), and t