26 THE HORSE BOOK. 



as much thickness of sole as we can get. The 

 low, weak heel and meager frog is that which 

 we must avoid. 



The -horny hoof is joined to the inner struc- 

 tures at the coronary band and by the horny 

 and sensitive laminae, some lining the horny 

 hoof, some rising from the footskin. These two 

 sets of laminae are interlaced together and they 

 are again interlocked so that in the ordinary 

 foot there are something like 750,000 points of 

 connection between the laminae, holding the 

 hoof in its place. The junction at the coronet 

 is a weak one. The interlocking of the laminae 

 practically holds the horny box in its place. The 

 whole column of the leg rests on the compara- 

 tively small coffin bone in the center of the hoof. 

 The coffin bone in turn rests upon the fatty 

 frog which overlies the horny frog and the sole. 

 The junction betwen the sole and the wall is 

 not a strong one. This supplies the reason why 

 the sole which is thick and never looks con- 

 cave is to be preferred, because of the greater 

 strength of its connection with the wall — hence 

 the blacksmith should never be allowed to use 

 anything but the rasp in leveling the foot to 

 take the shoe. The bars are merely an exten- 

 sion of the wall, designed to keep the heels 

 spread and should never" be mutilated, in fact 

 should never be touched with the knife. 



^' Begin at the ground'' is another dictum 

 which has been repeated parrotlike from year 



