*4 



PREPARING THE FOOT. 9 



takes some time to contract a horse's foot so as 

 to lame him, and, because the contraction comes 

 on by slow degrees, no one notices it, until the 

 horse falls lame, and then every one wonders what 

 can have done it; but very few hit upon the right 

 cause. 



The frog is a thick, springy cushion, whose chief 

 use is to protect a very important joint, called the 

 navicular joint, and it is covered by a thin layer 

 of horn, to keep in the moisture; and every time 

 you slice off any of the frog, you lay bare a part 

 that was never meant to be exposed to the air, 

 and it dries, and cracks, and forms rags, which 

 are cut off at every fresh shoeing, until the whole 

 frog becomes as dry and hard as a board; and 

 the horse gets an incurable disease, called "na- 

 vicular disease;" therefore I say, leave the frog 

 alone; it will never grow too large, for, long 

 before that would happen, the outer covering will 

 shell off, and a new horny covering will be found 

 underneath; and as to the rags, leave them alone 

 also, and they will fall off of themselves. 



