92 HORSE-TRAINING MADE EASY. 



weight of the animal, and swelling out laterally 

 expands the heels of the hoof. This frog ought 

 always to touch the ground ; it does so naturally, 

 and v/here bad shoeing prevents it, the crust of 

 the hoof soon becomes hard, britcle, and unyielding, 

 causing a shock at every step as the animal trots 

 over the hard road. Inflammation and alteration 

 of structure soon supervene. The posterior limbs 

 are modelled on a similar plan. Now from the 

 angles which the bones of the limbs make with 

 each other at the joints, the force of every shock 

 as the animal trots or gallops is greatly broken ; 

 its very step is light and elastic; and this not 

 only results from the obliquity of the bones in 

 question, but particularly from the yielding spring 

 of the pastern, its elasticity being provided for 

 by a ligament which passes down the back of the 

 cannon bone. No. 10, and along the pasterns. to 

 the coffin bone 11, 12, and 13. Nor is the spring 

 of the elastic frog to be here overlooked; it also 

 contributes an important share to the easy pro- 

 gression of the horse, the action of whose limbs 

 as he moves is, or ought to be free, vigorous, and 

 springy. But alas ! how often do we see the 

 knees distorted with overtoil, and the pasterns 

 rigid and swollen from disease! 



Shoeing is generally regarded as a necessary 

 evil ; and were it not for our paved streets and 

 turn piked roads, an evil which might in a great 

 measure be well dispensed with. As it is, our 

 object should be to observe as closely as possible 

 three important rules in shoeing horses : 1st. To 



