What is termed a _winter's run_, although attended with promised advantages in some respects, is not without the chance of loss, anxiety, vexation, and expence, in others: _frozen_ limbs, and an _empty_ carcase, are not calculated much for the promotion of flesh, strength, or purity of condition. A horse, by such, is in possession of his _shivering_ liberty, perhaps in some contracted spot, wretchedly despondent over the effluvia of his own excrements, 'tis true; but how far that may compensate for the want of shelter, food, care, and attention, in the most severe, dreadful and dreary season of the year, must be left entirely to the decision of those whose _pecuniary_ sensations may prompt them to make the experiment.
SOLE.—The external part of a horse's foot so called is at the bottom, and situate between the _frog_ in the center, and the _wall_ or _bearing_ which totally surrounds the outside. This will be the more perfectly understood by referring to Fig. 2. of the letter A in the Plate of "DEMONSTRATIVE SHOEING," where the SOLE, the WALL, and the FROG, being accurately represented, will collaterally explain themselves in the following description. The _outer_ sole (as it is called in contra-distinction to the _inner_, which is its membranous lining) is a sound and horny substance; but not so very firm and impenetrable in its texture, as the hoof, by which it is surrounded, and is evidently intended as a protection to the inferior structure of the foot. The sole, to assist generally in constituting what is considered a well-formed and substantial foot, should be thick, strong, and inclining much more to a hollow, than the least appearance of _prominence_; for when a shoe is well set, no bearing whatever should be sustained by the sole, but the whole must positively rest upon the _crust_ or _wall_ of the hoof, which may be seen in the line of articulation accurately represented upon the Plate; where, on the inside of the circle, will be observed the sole, Fig. 2. on the outer, the wall or crust, Fig. 1. When the bottom of the foot has what is termed a crowned sole, with a prominence similar to the convex side of an oyster shell, and the sole projecting above the circular wall of the hoof, the horse is tender, sometimes halts, and is tardy in progress: such horses are said to be _fleshy-footed_, and require great care and attention in shoeing; and unless the shoe is properly arched or hollowed within, to take off every chance of pressure from the prominent sole, pain and subsequent lameness must inevitably ensue.