HORSE-SHOEING. joi 



sensitive structure, contained within the hoof from injurious contact 

 with the ground. This redoubtable difficulty is comparatively insigni- 

 ficant in comparison with the other portions of the task she set her- 

 self. It was necessary that the lower extremity of the limb of such a 

 glorious creation as the horse, should be an organ endowed with the 

 acutest sense of touch for the instantaneous perception of the con- 

 sistence and inequalities of the ground over which it moved- and 

 while it possessed this quality in a high degree, it was also incnV 

 pensible that it should be gifted with the properties of resistance 

 pliability and lightness to the extent necessary for the support and 

 progression of the body, in addition to the rigidity essential to im- 

 pulsion, the elasticity and suppleness needful to avert reactions or iar 

 and the durability and rapidity of renovation demanded by incessant 

 wear. Here we have a combination of requirements whose simultane- 

 ous existence in one organ might almost be deemed incompatible so 

 opposite do they appear; insensibility with a delicate sense of touch ■ 

 resistance with lightness, rigidity with elasticity, suppleness with 

 cmrai-ihty. 



THE HOOF. 



xhe hoot P^ys no small share in rendering the horse such a 

 complete animal as it is ; and, as this is the portion of the foot which 

 comes more immediately under the care and manipulative skill of the 

 farrier, xts study should be a little more detailed and minute, perhaps 

 than that of the internal structures. For convenience and simplicity 

 in description, it has been divided into « wall " or - crust " - sole " 

 "frog" and "coronary frog-band," or « periopie." It L essential 

 that the shoer should understand the structure, nature, and uses of 

 these parts. 



The Wall of the hoof is that oblique portion which covers the 

 front and sides of the foot from the coronet to the gronnd, and i. 



