THE HOOF. 19 



THE HOOF. 



The "hoof" plays no small share in rendering the 

 horse such a complete animal as it is ; and, as this is the 

 portion of the foot which comes more immediately under 

 the care and manipulative skill of the farrier, its study 

 should be a little more detailed and minute, perhaps, than 

 that of the internal structures. For convenience and sim- 

 plicity in description, it has been divided into " wall " or 

 " crust," " sole," " frog," and " coronary frog-band," or 

 " periople." It is essential that the shoer should under- 

 stand the structure, nature, and uses of these parts. 



The Weill of the hoof is that oblique portion which 

 covers the front and sides of the foot from the coronet to 



Fro. 4. — Profile of a Five-year-old Front Hoof that had never reen shod ; ex- 

 ternal Face. — Angle of wall at toe 51°; a a, frog-band or periople; b, wall; c, 

 toe, between whicb and d is the "outside M or "inside '' toe or "mammilla," and be- 

 tween e and / the " outside " or " inside " heel. 



the ground, and is suddenly inflected or bent inward at 

 the heels, toward the middle of the sole to form the 

 " bars," which are merely prolongations of its extremities ; 

 it constitutes the circumference or margin of the hoof, is 

 the part of the horny box that is intended more especially 

 to come into contact with the ground, and is that on 

 which the iron defence rests, and through which the far- 



