POINTS. 415 



a wise provision of nature, the tender structure rules the insensitive 

 material which it produces. Therefore the horn cannot press upon or 

 pinch the internal portions of the foot, any more than the skull can com- 

 press the healthy brain which it protects. 



Then as to the supposed want of expansibility. The hoof may appear 

 stubborn when between the human fingers; but while supporting the 

 body of a horse, it is exposed to the operation of a force altogether 

 greater than any which man is able to exert. The question therefore is 

 not whether the hoof is very yielding, but whether it is so obdurate as 

 to resist the huge weight of the animal when aiding the mechanical force 

 of speed and the vital action of muscular power. 



The author, however, while making the above declaration, supposes 

 form to be united with stoutness. Where the heels have become "wired 

 in," and the crust has assumed the upright figure, the internal structures 

 must be in an altered condition, and the points of bearing for the different 

 portions of the limb must be entirely changed. The quarters in the last 

 kind of foot are, frequently, remarkably stubborn. They are rather in- 

 clined to crack than to expand. Such parts will not, by their innate 

 elasticity, fly inward on the leg being raised from the ground, and thus 

 regulate the amount of blood which shall be poured into the hoof; 

 neither will they expand when the weight is cast upon the foot, and thus 

 allow free egress to the current which is violently expelled in consequence 

 of the superimposed burden driving the fluid upward. 



The upright hoof and narrow heels are, generally, all but unyielding. 

 They have lost their natural function, and the harmony of the whole is 

 destroyed. In consequence, the blood, instead of being expelled from 

 the hoof, cannot escape from the pressure of the bony structures. The 

 vessels within which the fluid circulates are not formed to sustain unin- 

 jured so vast a burden. They rupture under the weight ; hence this 

 peculiar form of foot is commonly accompanied with corns. Therefore, 

 because corns are a disease, and because disease, being once generated, 

 is not in its course or duration to be prognosticated with certainty, an 

 upright hoof and wired in quarters are decided unsoundness: although 

 stoutness, simply considered, is rather a recommendation than a defect. 



The author may not dwell at greater length on this portion of his sub- 

 ject; but those who desire further information may with advantage con- 

 sult Miles's works upon the horse's foot, which are the best, the cheapest, 

 and the most lucid books upon this topic in the English language. They 

 are written in a style which the most unlettered may comprehend ; but 

 when recommending them, the author, in his own justification, may state 

 that the views therein expressed frequently differ from those opinions 

 which are contained in the present volume. 



