56 EXAMINATION OF HORSES 
The bloodvessels within the unyielding horny box are 
dilated and crowded with blood. Healthy vessels would 
have followed the example of their near kinsmen in the 
skin and have contracted upon their contents, and the. 
excited blood flow would have quieted down. This is a 
capital test for feet suspected of having suffered from 
inflammation. It is a.test you-should never fail to apply 
under such conditions. : 
Feet may be of unequal size, and still both may be 
quite sound. It not unfrequently happens that the right 
foot is distinctly the larger. Here we account for this by 
the right foot being more used, which is quite a natural. 
thing ; or we look for: signs of previous inflammation in 
the lesser foot, and apply our test when there are no 
pathological changes of structure visible in the horny box. 
Should there be no physical signs, permanent or pro- 
duceable, it would be a grave mistake to certify the horse 
as unsound, but you would be justified in mentioning it 
in your certificate. You would, were the foot very much 
less than its fellow, need to. be very careful. It often 
happens that young unshod horses gather foreign bodies, 
such as thorns, nails, and other sharp penetrating sub- 
stances, whilst running in an ordinary pasture, or they 
bruise their soles. We frequently find inflammation of 
a severe character, and prolonged, under these circum- 
stances: This-being so, we cannot be too careful when 
we find odd feet. 
Frogs that are atrophied and frogs that are large 
(fleshy), are neither of them conditions which exist: 
