STUD BOOK. 77 



and those from the hoof form a complete union, which, for 

 strength and elasticity combined, may vie with any piece of 

 animal mechanism that is known. It has been calculated 

 that the united superficies in a foot of tolerable size will 

 yield a surface of attachment equal to 212 square inches, 

 or nearly one square foot and a half. This is a contriv- 

 ance to prevent concussion which may well excite our ad- 

 miration. 



The bars or processes of the wall of the foot, inflected 

 obliquely across the bottom of the foot, along and outside of 

 the frog. The slightest consideration will show that their 

 office is both to admit of, and to limit to its proper ex- 

 tent the expansion of the foot. When the weight of the 

 animal is thrown on the laminae, these arches will shorten 

 and widen in order to admit of the expansion of the quar- 

 ters, and when that expansive power ceases to act, the bar 

 will return to its usual curve, and the foot will regain its 

 usual form. It is strange that, even at the present day, the 

 farriers should maintain their combination to get rid of this 

 beautiful and useful contrivance of nature. Although every 

 foot from which the bars are removed becomes more or less 

 contracted at the quarters, old prejudices prevent them from 

 tracing the connection of cause and effect The owner of the 

 horse should lay it down as a principle, from which his far- 

 rier should never be permitted to deviate, that the bars of 

 the foot should never be cut away. 



The sole is the arched plate at the bottom of the hoof, 

 and it is one of the most important parts of the foot. 

 Thousands of horses are ruined by the mass of horn which 

 is suffered to accumulate on it, and, occasionally, the sole 

 is materially injured and wounded by it The natural thick- 

 ness of the sole is about one-sixth of an inch, but that which 

 forms a union with the bars is nearly double the thickness of 

 the other parts. In its natural state it is to a certain degree 

 hollow, and thus it has the capacity of descending with the 

 weight of the horse. A flat sole cannot descend lower. 

 This, also, is a circumstance that the smith should be com- 

 pelled to attend to. 



The frog is the prominent triangular body occupying the 

 chasm between the bars. It extends forwards towards the 

 toe, about two-thirds of the distance between the toe and the 

 heel. It is of a cuneiform figure, not a little resembling a 

 ploughshare. It consists of two rounded or projecting sur- 

 faces, with a fissure or cleft between them, but uniting about 

 Jialf-way down the foot, and forming a wedge with the sharp 



