THE HORSE. 



693 



c. The sesamoid bone. 



d. The lower or smaller pastern bone. 



e. The navicular or shuttle bone. 



/. The coffin bone or bone of the foot. 



g. The suspensory ligament inserted into the 

 sesamoid bone. 



h. A continuation of the suspensory ligament, 

 inserted into the smaller pastern bone. 



i. The small inelastic ligament, tying down 

 the sesamoid bone to the larger pastern bone. 



k. A long ligament reaching from the pastern 

 bone to the knee, 



7. The extensor tendon inserted into both the 

 pasterns and the coffin bone. 



TO. The tendon of the perforating flexor in 

 serted into the coffin bone, after having passed over 

 the navicular bone. 



n. The seat of the navicular joint lameness. 



o. The inner or sensible frog. 



p. The cleft of the horny frog. 



q. A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the smaller pastern. 



r. A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the coffin bone. 



s. The sensible sole between the coffin bone and the horny sole. 



t. The horny sole. 



u. The crust or wall of the foot. 



v. The sensible laminae to which the crust is attached. 



w. The coronary ring of the crust. 



x. The covering of the coronary ligament from which the crust is 



z. Place of bleeding at the toe. 



FIG 



secreted. 



The Hock. This is where lameness frequently occurs in a horse, therefore in order 

 to avoid difficulty in this respect, and that it may be strong enough to bear the severe strain 

 that hard labor brings upon this part of the leg, the hock should be large. It is well, then, 

 to look for large, well-proportioned hocks in a horse, whether it be for trotting, draft, or 

 general purposes. The line of distance between the hip and hock should be long, thus bring 

 ing the latter low down towards the foot. 



The Foot. The foot of a horse should be of medium size, neither too large nor too 

 small. A large flat foot is very undesirable, and suggestive of a coarse and porous bony 

 structure above it. The animals that are most fleet, such as the antelope and deer, have 

 small hoofs. The wild horse also has a hoof of rather small or medium size. The different 

 parts of the foot are somewhat complicated, but the design in their formation is simple and 

 easily understood. The hoof is made up of a series of thin layers of horn, nearly five hundred 

 in number, nicely fitted the one to the other, and forming a firm and solid lining to the foot 

 itself. 



Besides this, there are numerous other layers which are elastic belonging to what is 

 termed the &quot;coffin bone,&quot; and which are fitted into this. It is estimated that there are about 

 four thousand elastic layers in the four feet of the horse, upon which the weight of the entire 

 body rests, which enable them not only to bear the great weight of the body, but also the 

 additional burdens that may be placed upon him. 



The flat foot is usually weak and troublesome to both the horse and his owner. The 



