24 THE ART OF HORSE-SHOEING. 



gression, tlie downward movement of the coronet bone is 

 provided for by this soft pad, and so is an upward move- 

 ment of the frog, when excessive bearing is placed 

 upon it. 



The frog-pad serves other purposes besides those we 

 have just referred to. It is essentially a cushion or pad 

 to prevent jar or concussion, but it also plays an impor- 

 tant part in the action of the foot, as we shall see later on. 



The Coronary Cushion or Pad is another mass 

 of tissue of a similar nature to the frog-pad. It is 

 situated just above the upper border of the hoof, and 

 gives to the coronet its prominence and elasticity. At 

 this part of the foot there is an enormous number of 

 small blood-vessels and nerves, and the coronary pad 

 forms not only a base for these to rest on, but a neces- 

 sary protection for them. If, instead of this elastic bed, 

 they were placed merely between the skin and the hard 

 bones and tendons of the part, they would be injured by 

 every slight bruise. Even with this cushion, we have, 

 in practice, very many serious conditions following 

 bruise of the coronet 



Blood-vessels op the Foot.— -It is not necessary to 

 describe the course of these vessels. All we need remem- 

 ber is that every part of the tissues within the hoof is 

 very plentifully supplied with blood, and that the flow 

 of blood is most rapid when the foot is in action. In a 

 dead foot, from which the blood has escaped, a certain 

 amount of movement of the bones within the hoof is 

 easily effected. In the living foot, when every vessel is 

 filled with blood, no such movement takes place. The 

 blood in the vessels forms a sort of water-bed, which 

 assists in preventing concussion and which distributes 

 evenly over the whole organ the pressure applied, when 

 weight is thrown on the foot. In studying the dead foot 

 with a view to understand its mechanism, we must not 

 lose sight of the difference which results from having in 

 one case the blood-vessels empty, and in the other — the 

 livino; animal— the blood-vessels full. 



*o 



