86 SOLE or rooT. 



the length of the foot from the posterior part of the frog to the 

 point of the toe ; and the rate at which the crust is usually 

 developed or grown. I have found the average measurement 

 of fore feet of the best quality of horses, which range in height 

 from fifteen hands two inches to sixteen hands high, to be as 

 follows : — Depth of hoof from the coronet to the point of the 

 toe, three and three quarter inches ; ditto at the heels, from one 

 and a half to nearly two inches ; width across ground surface 

 of sole at its broadest part, five inches ; length from posterior 

 or back part of the frog to the point of the toe, five inches ; 

 thickness of crust at the thickest parts, half an inch ; width of 

 outer half of ground surface of foot, from centre of frog, two 

 inches and about nine-sixteenths ; ditto of inner half from same 

 pomt of frog, two inches and barely three-eighths. Angle of 

 hoof at the toe, or at its deepest parf, forty-five or forty-six 

 degrees ; rate of growth of hoof five-sixteenths of an inch per 

 month. 



All hoofs, however, are not of the excellent kind here de- 

 scribed : the angle of some being much greater, and of others 

 less. Many hoofs are very little more than a quarter of an inch 

 in thickness at the thickest part. The ground surface of the 

 best class is always concave or vaulted in form ; others, of an 

 inferior kind, are flat or nearly so ; others again are convex, 

 resembling the outer surface of an oyster shell. Convex feet 

 are always objectionable, the animal possessing them being unfit 

 for rapid locomotion. Many hoofs are more than two inches 

 deep at the heels, while others are less than one inch. 



The growth of feet also differs considerably. Some grow 

 rapidly at the toe, and scarcely at all at the heels or quarters. 

 Peet that are flat-soled, or oyster-formed at the sole, have this 

 peculiarity of growth. In short, the endless variety of feet as 

 to their form, size, strength, mode and rate of growth is very 



