PART I. 



THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS 



OF THE FOOT. 



SECTIOX I. 

 THE STRUCTURE OF THE FOOT. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE HORSE'S 



FOOT. 



The lower portion of the horse's limb is called the foot. As 

 the horse is of little value to man except as a beast of draught 

 or burden, and as the lower portions of the limbs are chiefly 

 concerned in movement, the foot is one of the most important 

 parts of the horse's anatomy. The reason the horse's foot is 

 subject to so many diseases is to be sought in the strains and 

 many injurious influences to which it is exposed both when 

 the animal is at rest and when moving, and also in the injury 

 done by defective shoeing and ignorant attempts at treatment. 

 Many diseases could be avoided if the foot were regarded not 

 as a dead mass but as a living and highly organised portion 

 of the limb, which would not lightly bear interference and 

 unnatural treatment, while many more would be more easily 

 and rapidly cured if the structure and functions of the parts 

 were clearly kept in view. 



It is, therefore, very desirable that owners and attendants 

 should have some knowledge of this portion of the animal's 

 anatomy, while to the shoeing-smith, whose duty it is to keep 

 sound feet healthy, and to the veterinary surgeon, who has to 

 convert diseased into sound feet, a thorough acquaintance with 

 it is an absolute necessity. 



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