Page:Hints to Horse-keepers.djvu/227

Rh To illustrate these fundamental points, cuts are here introduced, showing the construction of the horse's foot.

As the various parts of the horse's foot cannot be better described for the purposes of this work than they have been by Mr. Miles (from whose manual the above cuts are transferred), extracts are here made from his description:

The hoof is divided into horny crust or wall, sole, and frog.

The horny crust is secreted by the numerous blood-vessels of that soft protruding band which encircles the upper edge of the hoof, immediately beneath the termination of the hair; and is divided into toe, quarters, heels, and bars. Its texture is insensible, but elastic throughout its whole extent; and, yielding to the weight of the horse, allows the horny sole to descend, whereby much inconvenient concussion of the internal parts of the foot is avoided. But if a large portion of the circumference of the foot be