CHAPTER V. 



THE FOOT — PEICKING. 



OuE limited space prevents us entering at any length into 

 the beautiful structure and arrangement of the horse's foot. 

 Suffice it to remark, that the foot is made up of the coffin- 

 bone, (os pedis,) the lower end of the small pastern-bone, (os 

 coronae,) and the shuttle-bone, (os naviculare,) with the 

 tendon of the flexor pedis, which passes over the navicular- 

 bone, and is inserted in the sole of the coffin-bone. The 

 surface of the coffin-bone is covered by laminae or thin 

 plates, running from above downwards, fitting into corre- 

 sponding plates on the inner surface of the hoof. The sole 

 is also covered by a sensitive structure which is villous, that 

 is, presenting elevations and depressions, which fit into re- 

 ciprocal horny villae on the sole .of the hoof. At the back 

 part of the sole we have the sensitive or fatty frog, covered 

 in a similar manner by the horny frog: These, with the 

 coronary ligament, (which occupies the groove in the upper 

 margin of the wall of the hoof, and from which the hoof 

 grows,) and the coronary frog-band, blood-vessels, nerves, 

 and lymphatics, constitute the foot of the horsa 



Accidents and injuries of the foot constitute the principal 

 causes of lameness. It is liable to injury from various causes, 

 as_bruises from steppirtg on stones, sharp bodies, treads,. &c,, 

 besides occasionally participating in constitutional derange- 



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