wall and the white line, and the seating commenced at the sole.

We have already remarked on the increased growth of horn at the heels. It
is in this position, then, that will be found the greatest bearing surface
for the shoe, and it is wise, in this case, to have the heels of the shoe
kept flat. In other words, the 'seating' is not to be continued to the
hindermost portion of the branches of the shoe. By this means there may be
obtained at each heel a good solid bearing of from 2 to 3 inches, which
would otherwise be lost.

Where the accompanying condition of the horn is bad enough to indicate it,
a leather sole should be used, beneath which has been packed a compress of
tow and grease, rendered more or less antiseptic by being mixed with tar.

Where the sole is exceedingly thin, and inclined to be easily wounded, and
where the hoof, by its brittleness, has become chipped and ragged at the
lower margin of the wall, it may perhaps be more advantageous to use, in
place of the compress of tow, the _huflederkitt_ of Rotten. This is a
leather-like, dark brown paste. When warmed in hot water, or by itself, it
becomes soft and plastic, and may readily be pressed to the lower surface
of the foot, so as to fill in all little cracks and irregularities, and
furnish a complete covering to the sole and frog, and to the bearing
surface of the wall. When cold it hardens, without losing the shape given
to it, into a hard, leather-like substance.

Treated in this way, the animal with pumiced feet may yet be capable of
earning his living at light labour or upon a farm.

E. 'RINGED' OR 'RIBBED' HOOF.

_Definition_.--A condition of the hoof in which the wall is marked by a
series of well-defined ridges in the horn, each ridge running parallel with
the coronary margin. They are known commonly as 'grass rings,' and may be
easily distinguished from the more grave condition we have alluded to as
following laminitis, by the mere fact that they do not, as do the laminitic
rings, approximate each other in the region of the toe, but that they run
round the foot, as we have already said, _parallel with each other_.

[Illustration: FIG. 82.--HOOF SHOWING THE RINGS IN THE HORN BROUGHT ABOUT
BY PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES.]

_Causes_.--This condition is purely a physiological, and not a pathological
one, and the words of its more common name, 'grass rings,' sufficiently
indicate one of the most common causes. Anything tending to an alternate
incre