THE SHOEING OF HORSES. 1 3 



inch and a quarter in three months. Numbers of feet appear 

 stationary in growth ; and others are not reproduced at a more 

 speedy rate than one-eighth of an inch per month. Thin, flat- 

 soled, or what are usually termed shelly feet, as a rule, are the 

 worst in this respect. Every gentleman taking a right interest in 

 the welfare of his horse, should ascertain the rate at which hoof is 

 reproduced in his own horse. The means of attaining this know- 

 ledge are simple. Procure a small three-edged file, and file a 

 portion of the horn across its substance, a certain distance, say one 

 inch, from the coronet. Do this at the front of the hoof, and also 

 at the quarters ; then, with a pair of compasses, measure the dis- 

 tance of the part filed, from the junction of the hoof with the hair 

 at the coronet. Make a memorandum of the date of the experi- 

 ment, and every time the animal is shod compare with the first 

 measurement ; by this means the rate of growth of the wall of 

 every foot measured will be accurately known. 



The sole and frog of the foot are produced from a class of 

 vessels similar in many respects to the vessels of the vascular villi. 

 The sole, as a rule, grows more abundantly than the wall, except 

 in feet that are pumiced from disease. The secreting vessels of 

 the sole are shorter and thicker in character. In consequence of 

 the nearness of the vessels secreting the sole to the pressure 

 received by the sole from the ground at all times, the sole is pro- 

 duced in flat or shallow layers, which layers, if not interfered with, 

 dry, and are thrown off in flakes or flat masses ; the rate at which 

 these layers are reproduced is not exactly known. (For the 

 vascular villi of the sole and the frog, see Plate III., Figs. 6, 7 7 7, 

 and 2 2.) 



