On the General Treatment of the Feet. 175 



the horn at the heels and quarters, and the greater degree of 

 width which takes plage at this part, (which may be proved indispu- 

 tably by measuring- from the inner edge of the transverse diameter 

 of the hoof on each side;) yet, no small sourse of this seeming good 

 depends upon the actual swelling of every part of the crust; which 

 lakes place in consequence of the absorption of water, whilst the 

 hoofs are enveloped in the grass of low lands or swampy places^ 

 which situations are generally chosen as the most proper, for turning 

 such Horses into. But, notwithstanding the expansion of the 

 heels and quarters, and the oilier external favorable appearances, 

 yet, we find such Feet soon begin to contract again, when the 

 Horse is brought back into the stable, — which circumstance de- 

 pends partly, upon the previous disposition to contraction, which 

 the use of the shoe has induced upon the living parts, within the 

 hoof, as Mr. Clark has very judiciously pointed out, and partly, 

 upon the drying and shrinking which takes place in the horn, and 

 the consequent loss of its elasticity at the quarters. 



Though coolness of the Feet, therefore, is one of the best external 

 symptoms of all being right within the hoof, especially if it be ac- 

 companied with a proper degree of elasticity of the horn, yet we 

 can by no means always secure this grand object by much soaking 

 of the Feet in water, any more than vre can obtain it by keeping the 

 hoof thin!y rasped at the quarters. 



The external condition of the hoof then, though the best criterion 

 that we have for forming our judgment upon the sta'e of the in- 

 ternal structure, is by no means an infallible guide to enable us to 

 pronounce upon the real condition of the parts within it. For 

 it is not by any means clearly proved, that one of the cause* of 



