68 HORSE AND MAN. 



* La Posse describes this action as a " compression," 

 fitly comparing the process of the lower pastern bone 

 squeezing the navicular bone on the top of the tendon 

 to the action of the hammer upon the anvil.' 



Thirdly, it is intended to cling to smooth and 

 wet surfaces, which its indiarubber-like consistency 

 enables it to do. The late Mr. T. M. Gepp, of 

 Chelmsford, a veteran Nimrod, told me that when he 

 was in Palestine, the horses at first absolutely terrified 

 him by the way in which they sprang from rock to 

 rock, the frog enabling them to cling to any smooth 

 surface on which they might alight, and the sharply 

 edged wall hitching upon the slightest irregularity. 



