Book #35: Observations and discoveries made upon horses with a new method of shoeing, by Étienne-Guillaume La Fosse (1755).
Étienne-Guillaume La Fosse served as farrier to the King of France in the 18th century. Originally published in french, Observations and Discoveries Made Upon Horses was translated into English, possibly by Henry Bracken, whose work is represented in the Cherry Collection. Bracken translated La Fosse’s 1749 work A Treatise Upon the True Seat of the Glanders in Horses.
La Fosse’s work is a mixture of his own writing as well as that of others. The first section of the work describes a variety of observations he made about various accidents and injuries to the legs and feet of horses as well as other parts of the body. The text then moves into a discussion of how to treat these various issues.
La Fosse’s work contains a number of detailed illustrations of the feet as well as the head and neck. Also contained in the work is a lengthy discussion about glanders. Descriptions of the anatomy of the equine head and neck, shoeing horses, and a further discussion about glanders published by J. Bartlett (whose works are the most numerous in the Cherry Collection) are also contained, as well as several veterinary-related pieces reprinted from the Royal Academy of Sciences.