18 PRACTICAL HORSESHOEING. 



tufts are not only vascular, but also sensitive. They play 

 an essential part in the formation of the hoof, and their 

 relations to that covering must not be neglected by the 

 farrier in his treatment of it. 



This is all that need be said at present with regard to 

 the anatomy of the living parts of the horse's foot ; we 

 have referred to it merely to show that this organ is not 

 a crude block of insensitive matter, but a most wonder- 

 fully-constructed apparatus, possessed of qualities which 

 are not to be found in any other part of the body. In 

 constructing the foot of this noble creature, Nature sought 

 to do more than merely protect the extremely delicate 

 and exquisitely sensitive structures contained within the 

 hoof from injurious contact with the ground. This re- 

 doubtable difficulty is comparatively insignificant in com- 

 parison with the other portions of the task she set her- 

 self. It was necessary that the lower extremity of the 

 limb of such a glorious creation as the horse, should be an 

 organ endowed with the acutest sense of touch for the in- 

 stantaneous perception of the consistence and inequalities 

 of the ground over which it moved ; and, while it pos- 

 sessed this quality in a high degree, it was also indispen- 

 sable that it should be gifted with the properties of resist- 

 ance, pliability, and lightness to the extent necessary for 

 the support and progression of the body, in addition to 

 the rigidity essential to impulsion, the elasticity and sup- 

 pleness needful to avert reactions or jar, and the durabil- 

 ity and rapidity of renovation demanded by incessant 

 wear. Here we have a combination of requirements 

 whose simultaneous existence in one organ might almost 

 be deemed incompatible, so opposite do they appear : in« 

 sensibility with a delicate sense of touch ; resistance with 

 lightness, rigidity with elasticity, and suppleness with 

 durability. 



