should be at once abolished, because the broad web has been proved by the general employment of the picker rather to afford harbour to hurtful particles than to protect the sole from injury. The shoe should be made only just wide enough to afford bearing to the wall of the hoof, and to allow sufficient room for the nails to pierce the substance of the iron. … There can be no doubt as to the safety of tips. … Were tips more generally employed, this form of shoe would be more highly valued.’ So we see that Mayhew was only short of the idea of imbedding his narrow strip of iron, which idea occurred to M. Charlier shortly after Mayhew wrote.
It may not be out of place to repeat here that such a narrow, weak strip of iron is not found to answer when applied in the shape of a full-sized shoe, as it will then either twist or break; but in the short length required for a tip, it is found that it will do neither.
Impulsive or superficial thought may suggest the idea that such light tips may soon wear out. This is not the case, for Mr. Douglas found by practical experiment that light shoes wear the longest; and a little reflection would account for this.
The proper width of a tip for a lady’s horse would be from ⅜ in. to ½ in., and the thickness ¼ in. only. Light iron, as has been observed, only requires light nails, and few of them, to hold it on; and as the narrowness of the web of the tip would bring the nail-holes nearer to the edge of the hoof,
