The heels, also, by being suffered to grow too 

 high, prevent the frog from coming into con- 

 tact with the ground. Hence the frog become^ 

 soft and rotten, and so extremely tender, that 

 when it presses on a stone, or any other hard 

 substance, the animal expetiences great pain 

 on the occasion. The sole of a very strong 

 narrow hoof, is generally preternaturally con- 

 <*ave, so that it is forced upwards by the lateral 

 compression of the quarters against the fleshy 

 sole, causing considerable and permanent pain 

 in that part. Corns, also, frequently arise in 

 hoofs of the above description. 



The means usually employed to effect a cure, 

 are by attempting to expand the heels by arti- 

 ficial means, with a view to relieve the internal 

 parts of the hoof from that painful compression 

 which produces lameness. But the restoration 

 of the original form of the hoof does not al- 

 ways produce a remedy ■ for, in some cases of 

 the above description, the cartilages or gristly 

 parts of the colhn bone become so completely 

 disorganized as to lose their functions and 

 elasticity. This, therefore, sufficiently demon- 

 strates the risk incurred in buvins: a horse with 

 narrow or contracted heels- 



The above diseases arise from too much 

 strength and thickness in the walls or cntst of 

 the hoof, and they are considerably accelerated 



