vy 



70 



The ends thus inclining inwards, 

 are called the bars ; they are not 

 usually seen except in faint traces, 

 in London horses, for, from a 

 very mistaken and mischievous 

 policy of the farrier, whose ambition is to give 

 the foot an open appearance at the expense of 

 safety and soundness, they are cut away in paring 

 the foot for the shoe ; and this is what they call 

 " putting the foot in order !" I have scarcely ever 

 seen a horse in a dealer's stables that retained the 

 bars perfect. 



The frog is an elastic horny substance between 

 the bars, occupying about a fourth part of the 

 foot, and in the shape of the letter Y inverted. 

 It will be more clearly under- 

 stood from a figure. It is also 

 the fashion to reduce and pare 

 away the frog as well as the 

 bars. To do this so far as not 

 to expo<^( it to the first contact with the ground, 

 when the foot descends, is perhaps judicious ; but 

 nothing is more obvious than that nature intended 

 this elastic and hard substance to break the jar 

 of the descending foot, and therefore it ought still, 

 notwithstanding the artificial protection given by 

 the shoe, to meet the ground. It should be re- 



