SHOEING. 1^9 



of the foot to the centre of the sole, jnst over the point where 

 the bars meet, but is united to iheni only at tlR'ir upjier edge ; 

 the sides remain unattached and separate, and form the channel 

 called tlie commissures. 



If we carefully observe the form and size in the frog in the 

 foot of a colt of from four to five years old, at its first shoeing, 

 and then note the changes whicli it undergoes as the shoeings 

 are repeated, we shall soon be convinced that a visible departure 

 from a state of health and nature is taking place. At first it 

 will be found large and full, with considerable elasticity ; the 

 cleft oval in form, open, and expanding, with a continuous, 

 well-defined, and somewhat elevated boundary ; the bulbs at the 

 lieels fully developed, plump, and rounded ; and the whole mass 

 occupying about one-sixth of the circumference of the foot. By 

 degrees the fulness and elasticity will be observed to have 

 diminished ; the bulb at the heels will shrink, and lose their 

 plumpness; the cleft will become narrower, its oval form disap- 

 pear, the back part of its boundary give way, and it will dwindle 

 into a narrow crack, extended back between the wasted, or 

 perhaps obliterated, bulbs, presenting only the miserable remains 

 of a frog, such as may be seen in the feet of most horses long 

 accustomed to be shod. 



The bones proper to the foot are three in number, — viz., the 

 coffin bone, the navicular bone, and part of the coronet bone ; 

 they are contained within the hoof, and combine to form the 

 coffin joint ; but the smallest of them, the navicular bone, is of 

 far more importance as connected with the subject of shoeing, 

 than either of the others ; for upon the healthy condition of this 

 bone, and the joint formed between it and the tendon, which 

 passes under it to the coffin bone, and is called the navicular 

 joint, mainly depends the usefulness of the horse to man. 



