322 THE HORSE S FOOT. 



a cushion ; and, being spongy and elastic, when required to bear 

 weight it spreads, and to accommodate this action the wall ex- 

 pands from the quarters back. 



The structure of the foot is such that even if the frog sus- 

 tains no pressure the heel must spread at every stride when the 

 weight comes upon the foot. It can readily be imagined what 

 the effect must be of shoeing a horse so that the heels are held 

 rigidly together by an unyielding shoe. 



The Bars form an angle at the heels which terminates 

 toward the toe. They serve to give strength and durability 

 to the hoof, prevent contraction of the heels, and thus aid 

 the hoof in protecting the soft and sensitive parts. The 

 internal portion of the bars present the same appearance as 

 that of the crust. They are held together by vital affinities, 

 and so long as they maintain their normal integrity the foot 

 will preserve its form. 



The principal internal parts of the foot are the coffin-bone, 

 the navicular or shuttle-bone, the coronary substance, the sensi- 

 tive sole, the sensitive frog, and the lamellae, together with 

 numerous ligaments. It will thus be seen that the foot of the 

 horse is a most complicated structure, which is liable to derange- 

 ment whenever the foot is interfered with ; and this may occur 

 in mismanagement in shoeing, causing incalculable injury, or 

 from inflammation of the secreting surface, which will termi- 

 nate in the formation of imperfect horn, or from punctures or 

 other wounds of the foot. 



Perhaps in no organ does an injury so soon produce a return 

 for the inevitable first result as a malformation of the hoof, and 

 this again only adds to the original mischief. It is necessary 

 to examine the structure of the foot most carefully, not as an 

 object of curiosity connected with the sense of touch, but on 

 account of the numberless diseases and accidents to which it is 

 subject. No part of the horse is so liable to injury from the 

 efjfects of hard work or mismanagement as this, and there is, 

 consequently, none which more requires our care both in health 

 and disease. 



