69 



hoof. This homy case is termed the C7mst or wall. 

 It is about half an inch in thickness in the fore 

 part of the foot, and becomes thinner as it recedes. 

 I have ah'eady observed that the hoof inclines 

 upwards in the form of a beer tunnel ; it would be 

 more scientific to say that the inclination is, or 

 ought to be, at an angle of 45 degrees with the 

 plane of the shoe. If this angle is materially less, 

 ithe sole is flat, or perhaps convex; if the angle 

 ■exceeds 45 degrees, the foot is contracted. Any 

 man may easily accustom his eye to an accurate 

 jmeasurement of the angle, by attentively noticing 

 lit in the extension of a pair of compasses. It 

 would be rather green, however, to produce them 

 at Tattersall's or the Bazaar. 



I Where the hoof appears to unite wdth the skin 

 at the top, or more properly speaking, at the root 

 of it, it is called the coronet. The crust here be- 

 comes very thin, and at the thinnest part, it is 

 called the coronary ring. There is a thick fold of 

 skin just above this, which is called the coronary 

 ligament; not that it is a ligament in the true 

 anatomical sense of the term ; such however, is 

 its name. 



! The crust of the hoof extends itself towards the 

 heel, and then abruptly curves inwards, in the 

 form delineated in the next page. 



