Notes on Veterinary Anatomy

by Charles James Korinek

11. Sensitive sole, or quick of the foot.

12. Frog of the foot, or horney frog.

13. Plantar cushion, or fatty frog.

14. Navicular bone. This is also important, for when diseased it is the seat of navicular, or coffin joint lameness.

15. Back tendons below the fetlock.

16. Sesamoid, or fetlock bones.

17. Skin.

18. Back tendons above the fetlock.

Foot.—In equine anatomy the word “foot” implies the hoof, together with the bones and soft structures contained therein. Many of these objects have already been described, so that our description here will be confined almost to the hoof and the structures with which it comes into immediate contact internally.

Wall of the Foot.—The wall is that part of the hoof seen when the foot is resting flat on the ground. It is divided into the toe, the quarters, the heels and the bars. The toe forms the front, and is the thickest and strongest part of the wall. The quarters are situated at the side. The walls are not nearly so thick here as at the toe, but are almost straight up and down. The heels are situated at the back part of the foot. From the heel is a process of hoof, which looks like a bar, passing forward between the frog and the sole of the foot; this can be seen plainly by raising up the foot. There is one of these at each side of the frog. They act as braces to the heel and the quarters of the wall; these are called the bars. Covering the outside of the wall is a fine membrane called the periople, which gives the hoof its polished appearance. This can be seen best when the hoof is well washed off, as it is after traveling through wet grass. This membrane keeps the moisture in the hoof and protects it from water. This is a point of importance in shoeing horses, as it is very injurious to file the wall too much. Around the top part of the wall, where it unites with the skin, is a groove which contains a white band, called the coronary substance, or band. This nourishes the wall of the hoof, or, in other words, it is from this that the wall of the hoof grows. The under part of the wall, or that which rests on the ground in the unshod animal, is called the spread of the foot. On the inside of the wall, attaching it to the bone of the foot called the os pedis, is the part called the quick, or sensitive laminae. It is important to note this when driving nails in shoeing. The nail should not be driven into this membrane, nor should it be even pressed upon, for it is very sensitive. When a nail has been driven so as to injure the membrane it is a common expression to say, “You have pricked that horse’s foot.”