THE FOOT 



as the quarters, the wall on the inner quarter 

 being the thinnest, and the horn at the toe the 

 thickest. The upper border of the wall is 

 encircled by the coronary band or cushion. In 

 its normal condition the horny sole is concave, 

 but, in disease, e.^, sub-acute laminitis, it 

 becomes flattened or even convex. The wall 

 and sole adjacent thei^eto constitute the cJiief 

 weight-bearing stmctttres of the foot, though 

 this fact is too often ignored in shoeing. 

 Placed in the middle of the sole, at the back, 

 is the foot-pad or frog, which is an elastic 

 triangular pad, with an apex and a base, and a 

 central cleft. These clefts are known as the 

 middle and lateral "lacunae." Situated on either 

 side of the foot-pad, forming, as it were, its outer 

 boundary, are the "bars,'* which are reflections 

 of the wall at the heel, and an important part, 

 serving as they do to strengthen the foot in this 

 region, and ought never to be pared away, 

 a practice, unfortunately, too commonly adopted. 

 The horny sole is secreted by the horn-forming 

 structures of the sensitive sole, whilst the wall 

 of the hoof is formed from the papillce on the 

 coronary cushion. From each papilla, a horn 



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