130 ESSAY ON SHOEING HOKSES. 



REMARKS ON THE FROG. 



There are several reasons why large portions of the frog should 

 not be removed, and I will briefly allude to some of them. In the 

 healthy frog there is a solid wedge-like portion of horn, extending 

 from the cleft to the point of the same ; it lies directly under that 

 small, yet very important bone, known as the "navicular" — which 

 signifies hoat-shape — and this bone, its region and contiguous tissues, 

 often become the seat of a very painful disease known as ?iavicular- 

 thritis — inflammation of the parts. This disease often arises — so say 

 the authorities — in consequence of removing the bulbous prolonga- 

 tion termed the anterior point and bulb of the frog, the function of 

 which is to protect, to a certain extent, this bone, and the sensitive 

 parts connected with it, and to shield them from the injuries which 

 might otherwise occur when the animal is made to travel fast over 

 hard and uneven roads. 



A very distinguished physiologist has asserted that when once this 

 bulbous enlargement is cut ofi", it can never be reproduced, and thus 

 this peculiar bulbous enlargement is seldom found in a horse's foot 

 after he has been pared and shod. This enlargement or thickening 

 of horny substance in the frog not only protects the navicular region, 

 but it also shields the coffin joint, yet there is no part of the sole 

 which receives such a thorough paring as this. 



The bulb of the toe once removed, nature causes augmented secre- 

 tion of horny substance to make up for the loss of this bulb ; this 

 secretion is often very abundant, but nature is no match against 

 knife and butteris — the faster the horn grows, the better chance is 

 there for those who feel disposed to cut and whittle it at every sub- 

 sequent shoeing ; then the secretory function soon becomes impaired, 

 and we find that the part finally becomes inelastic and brittle. 



The frog, as a whole, is that cushion-like substance, which, by 

 coming in contact with the ground prevents jar and concussion, not 

 only to the sensitive tissues within the hoof, but to the joints above ; 

 — in fact, by the same means, some jar or concussion, which might 

 otherwise occur to the whole body, is lessened. 



The frog is a part which is developed in the same ratio with other 

 parts of the hoof, provided the parts are in a healthy cooidition, and 

 thus the integrity of the whole is preserved ; the frog, therefore, 

 serving as a part'of the basis of the animal structure, cannot be re- 

 moved with impunity. 



The reader is probably aware that if the frog be cut away, so that 

 nothing but the shoe comes in contact with the earth, the body of 

 the antmal has little, if any, solar support; hence arises strain of 

 the lamina?, and finally descent of the sole. 



Strain, or sprain of the lamince, and descent of the sole, is followed 

 by structural alterations of tissues and parts within the hoof, and 

 then the animal is said to be " foundered" — ruined in the feet. 



When preparing the foot in view of applying the shoe, it may be 

 proper to remove "just about as much of loose and rough portions of 

 frog as the animal might be supposed to wear ofl", provided he were 

 not shod ; and yet, according to the testimony of eminent surgeons, 

 this is not always good policy, for these ragged and uncouth looking 



