The Sporting Dictionary, and Rural Repository, Volume 1 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

COFFIN-BONE

.—This bone is situate at the lower extremity of the foot, deposited in the membranous mass with which the box (or coffin) of the hoof is lined, and is in nearly the shape of the hoof itself: in the centre of the coffin-bone is a concavity, into which is inserted the inferior part of the coronary bone, supported by the nut bone behind: upon the superior part of the coronary bone (that is just above the line said to be "between hair and hoof") is lodged the lower part of the fetlock bone, its upper part articulating with the fetlock joint. Injuries are very frequently sustained by holes in the road, or cavities in the pavement, into which a part, or the whole, of the foot getting, ligamentary twists or distortions happen to the lower joints. Too much pains cannot be taken in accurately ascertaining the exact seat of lameness, particularly in these parts, as a great number of horses are annually blistered and fired by much too hastily, and upon parts where no lameness has ever been.