654 The Structure of the Horses Foot and Prlncvples of Shoeing. 
which has been left for some weeks without the smith's care, 
the ground surface will be nearly flat — crust, bars, frog, and 
sole forming one rough level, covered with loose pieces of 
horn breaking off from the sole and frog, which organs want no 
help from the knife to keep them in proper condition. 
Between the fully formed foot of the horse and the half- 
grown foot of the newly-born foal, there are important differ- 
ences, which may easily be seen, as specimens of both organs are 
common enough. The first thing which strikes the observer 
is the great difference in the arrangement of the base of the 
foot in the two animals. In the hoof of the foal (Plate 5, page 
665) the fibres of horn at the bottom of the foot are continued 
to a point, the fibres being joined together not unlike a half- 
cleaned paint-brush. No frog or crust or bars can be seen in 
this specimen ; but, after a few days' contact with the ground, 
the brush-like masses of horn fibre are broken off and the sole 
becomes flat or slightly hollow, but never presents the deeply 
concave form until it has been brought under the knife of the 
shoeing-smith. 
Up to this point only the horny covering has been described as 
it is seen without dissection ; and it is now time to see what is 
to be seen by taking the foot to pieces. The workman who is 
fond of his work will look beyond the surflice, if only for the 
sake of finding out the nature of the things he has to deal with. 
He may proceed in many ways, all leading to the same end, and 
it is not a matter of much moment whether he begins by taking 
off the hoof and then working inwards to the bone which is 
the foundation of the foot, or makes a cut which will enable 
him to see at one view all the parts of wliicli it is made up. 
Perhaps it will be most interesting to begin by seeing the 
structures in their proper position. For this purpose a cut 
must be made quite through the centre of the organ. In Plate 
6, on page 665, a section of the kind is drawn from a specimen 
which is so thin as to be transparent, and the various parts are 
represented as seen by a low magnifying power. The parts 
shown are a, skia of coronet ; Z/, fibres of coronary frog band ; 
c, fibres of wall ; d, horny lamina ; e, fibres of sole ; /, fibres of 
frog ; f7, section of coffin bone ; , section of navicular bone ; 
i, section of flexor tendon ; A", section of coronet bone ; /, section 
of fatty frog. 
A careful inspection of the figure, and close reading of the 
description, will give the reader a fair idea of the arrangement 
of the parts which are included in the foot, and assist him in 
the next step in tlie incpiiry, which will consist in taking the 
foot to pieces and looking at each part separately. 
