618 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



THE FOOT 



May justly be considered as the most important part 

 of the whole machine ; for upon its sound and healthy 

 condition the utility of the animal chiefly depends. 

 From the universal frequency of its diseased state, it 

 might almost be supposed that it was more defective in 

 its original construction than any other part; but 

 such a conclusion is not warranted by the evidence 

 of nature in any of her primordial arrangements. The 

 fact is, that the surface of the earth, ^vhich in its original 

 state is soft and yielding, is rendered hard and in- 

 elastic by the substitution of denser materials in the 

 composition of artificial roads. 



The constant and inordinate degree of labour which 

 the cupidity of commerce, and the calls of luxury, 

 have imposed upon the animal, is such as would con- 

 sume the foot much more rapidly than it could grow 

 or be reproduced, were it unprotected by the shoe. It 

 is to these causes, therefore, that we should look for 

 the source of nine-tenths of the lameness with which 

 the horse is so often afflicted. For however skilfully 

 the shoe may be formed and applied to the hoof, still 

 the result of shoeing will ever be pernicious in a 

 greater or less degree, because the foot must be sub- 

 jected to an unnatural restraint, counteracting the 

 radical principles of its constitution and economy. The 

 hoof of a colt, antecedently to its being shod, describes 

 nearly a circular form, and is widest at the lateral parts 

 or quarters. The utility of this shape must be self- 

 evident, inasmuch as it increases the basis upon which 

 the foot stands, and thereby gives greater stability to 

 the animal during progression. The external parts 

 of the hoof are usuallv divided into three : namely, the 



