136 HOBSE-SIIOEING. 



contact -with the ground, and exposure to the effects of heat, dry- 

 ness, and moisture. 



The " Coronary Frog-Band" or " Periople" is a continuation 

 of the more superficial layer of the skin around the coronet and 

 heels, in the form of a thin, light-colored band that descends to a 

 variable depth on the outer surface of the wall, and at the back 

 part of the hoof becomes consolidated with the frog, with which it 

 is identical in structure and texture. It can be readily perceived 

 in the hoof that has not been mutilated by the farrier's rasp, 

 extending from the coronet, where the hair ceases, to some distance 

 down the hoof ; it is thickest at the commencement of the wall, 

 and gradually thins away into the finest imaginable film as it 

 approaches the lower circumference of this part. When wet it 

 swells and softens, and on being dried shrinks, sometimes cracks in 

 its more dependent parts, or becomes scaly. 



The fibres composing it are very fine and wavy, as in the frog ; 

 they likewise spring from villi which project from the true skin 

 immediately above the " coronary cushion." 



The use of this band would appear to be twofold : it connects 

 the skin with the hoof, and thus makes the union of these two 

 dissimilar textures more complete, its intermediate degree of density 

 and its great elasticity admirably fitting it for this office ; and it 

 acts as a covering or protection to the wall at its upper part, where 

 this is only in process of formation, and has not sufficient resistance 

 to withstand the effects of exposure to the weather. The greatest 

 thickness and density of the band correspond to the portion of the 

 wall rn which the villi or vascular tufts are lodged, and here the 

 horn is soft, delicate, aud readily acted upon in an injurious manner 

 by external influences. 



Thus far, then, we have rapidly glanced at the anatomy and uses 

 of the various parts entering into the composition of the horse's 

 hoof, and its horny box — the hoof. It may be necessary, before 



