It will be seen by referring to our history of shoeing, that the only claim to scientific farriery which can be admitted in this new system—allowing the frog to reach the ground—is no novelty, and is achieved by the mutilation of the best portions of the sole and crust.
A very much less pretentious, though promising to be a far more useful, invention, is the quite recent one of Mr Gray of Sheffield, the patentee and manufacturer of grooved steel and steel-faced bars, to be made into horseshoes. Shoes made from these rolled bars have the ground surface cut into a series of ridges and teeth of various forms (figs. 201, 202, 203), adapted to secure a firm foothold, and prevent horses from slipping or falling on the pavement of large towns.
fig. 201 | fig. 202 |
Owing to their being manufactured either entirely or partially of steel—in the latter case the steel is on the ground surface—they can be tempered so as to preserve their denticulated surface in an efficient condition for some time; a rather important feature to be noted. According to Mr Gray, 'shoes made from this material will not require sharpen-