ROUND-HOOF D. 



far more serious than quarter-cracks, and before the grinding of the 

 wall had reached the point of cracking there would not be any foot 

 to split. That the shoe confines the foot is easily proven by com- 

 paring the foot of a horse which has never worn shoes and one with 

 these appendages. The first is susceptible of being forced to quite a 

 distance by a slight pull ; the other cannot be moved a hair's breadth 

 bv the stronofest effort of the hand. Take the unshod foot between 

 the knees in the same manner a blacksmith holds it when preparing 

 it for or nailing on the shoe, and grasping the heels, with the thumbs 

 bearing on the commissures, and the yielding is not only felt, but is 

 apparent to the eye. Grasp the foot higher up and the fact of the 

 contraction and expansion of the upper part of the foot is also ascer- 

 tained. Taking the shod foot, especially one that has been shod for 

 yeai-s, and while the lower motion is entirely gone, that below the 

 coronet has been very much lessened. In the natural foot the frog 

 is wide, and as was remarked before, the cleft of it is shallow. In 

 the shod one the frog has dwindled to one-half its original proportion, 

 is hard, Avithout elasticity, and in many cases the blade of a knife 

 can be run into the cleft an inch or more. Another great change 

 will be observed. The foot, in its normal condition, is wider than it 

 is long. In the artificial state, induced by shoeing, it is much 

 longer than wide. The nai-rowing or contraction of the heel has 

 lessened the transverse measurement and increased the longitudinal. 

 The absence of corns in the unshod foot proves that the concussion 

 is the most violent between the shoe and the foot, for if these 

 troublesome things resulted from contact with the ground, the want 

 of shoes would be favorable for their production. 



The following cut shows the ground surface of the foot, and the pecu- 

 liarities of foi-mation, which the previous illustration only partially 

 represented, are here passably portrayed. It is very difiicult to give 

 a draughtsman a proper idea of the shape of the natural foot, unless 

 the animal can be present. Few of the drawings of the horse's foot 

 which are given in the books are correct in showing the natural foot, 

 the artists evidently having taken their "studies" from specimens 

 which had been changed by shoeing. The frog is usually represented 

 as much muTOwer than when in a normal condition, and the coia- 



