18 ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEING. 



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 con- 

 solidated with the frog", with which it is identical in struct- 

 ure and texture. It can be readily perceived in the hoof 

 that has not been mutilated by the farrier's rasp, extend- 

 ing from the coronet, where the hair ceases, to some dis-. 

 tance down the hoof ; it is thickest at the commencement of 

 the wall, and gradually thins away into the finest imagin- 

 able 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 cush- 

 ion.' 



" The use of this band would 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 thick- 

 ness and density of the band correspond to the portion of 

 the wall in which the villi or vascular tufts are lodged, and 

 here the horn is soft, delicate, and readily acted upon in an 

 injurious manner, bj^ external influences. 



" Thus far, then, we have rapidly glanced at the anat- 



