HORSEMAXSHIP. 



The frog is intended by nature to retain a certain amount 

 of moisture to keep the horn above it soft and elastic, to 

 give the foot a firm hold of the ground, and so prevent 

 slipping, to protect the soles from injury from stones and 

 other bruising substances, to aid in supporting the weight, 

 to act as a buffer in diminishing concussion, and to assist 

 the powerful flexor tendon in bending the foot. When, 

 therefore, the presumptuous meddler of the forge keeps 

 cutting it back, and it is kept, so to speak, " out of work," 

 it becomes shrivelled and soft, in many instances the disease 

 known as *' thrush" sets in, and the foot becomes unsound. 

 But this is not all. Inside the hoof, immediately above this 

 horny frog, is a mass of fatty fibrous tissue, an elastic 

 cushion, known as the " plantar cushion," which, acting in 

 unison with the frog, prevents jar, and aids in furnishing 

 ease and elasticity to the horse's action. When the horny 

 frog fails to meet the ground the " plantar cushion " cannot 

 perform its functions, and so the whole spring is taken from 

 the '' coronary cushion " lying in the upper and inner surface 

 of the wall of the hoof, close to where hair and horn meet. 

 The whole cunningly devised elastic apparatus is thrown 

 out of gear, an undue strain is thrown on this uppermost 

 coronary arrangement, ring-bone frequently being the con- 

 sequence. When one part of the apparatus is called upon 

 to discharge the duties of three it must suffer from the un- 

 natural strain. 



The horse, as found on the runs of Australia, or roaming 

 at large on the prairies or veldt, requires no care of his feet, 

 they look after themselves and all goes well ; the horn, 

 worn by the attrition of the ground over which he wanders, 

 being continuously reproduced. But these vast natural 

 pastures do not cause the same wear and tear as our 

 metalled roads and pavements. Nothing, when sound turf 



