WEBVTT - Hooves, Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:16.360 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.479 And I'm Joe McCormick, and today we are going to 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:23.480 begin a look at the hoof, the animal hoof, specifically 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.960 the horse hoof. Rob how did you get interested in this? 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.400 Well, I was in New York last week with my family, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.240 went to the American Natural History Museum, and I was 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.760 looking at fossils and bones, and I was captivated by 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.200 some of the some of the bones of the horse 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.760 and started thinking about the hoof and just how strange 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.920 the hoof is. Yet yet at the same time, we 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.640 kind of take it for granted, because even if you 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.760 are not a person who lives among horses and cares 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:00.000 for horses, horses are everywhere in our imagery and our 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.200 iconography and our entertainment. You can scarcely be a video 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.600 game player at all without having mounted a horse, or 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.880 lost a horse, or accidentally driven a horse off a 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.000 cliff or up a wall at some point. So I 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:14.920 was I was really taken by this, like I had 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.520 not really in my life set aside any time to 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.400 just consider the utter weirdness of the horse hoof. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.160 I almost feel like the weirdness of the horse hoof 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.080 is embodied in the sound of the horse galloping, and 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.920 how different that is from the sound of the movement 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:32.720 and most other animals you'd think about. 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.240 Yeah, I mean it's like the drumming of fingers on 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.920 a table, right, Yeah, like that's that's that's an attempting 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.360 direction to go in anyway. Yeah, I feel like it's 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.800 it's all too easy to take the hoof for granted, 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.320 even in literature. You know, I was thinking, well, we can, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.760 we can kick off this episode with a nice little 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.000 quote or a little reading from something that kind of captures, 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.440 you know, our current level of fascination with the hoof, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.160 But I really wasn't able to find much. Now again, 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.720 horses and hooves are just throughout human literature. They're everywhere, 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.799 and there are a lot of literary references to the 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.360 to hooves and the sound of hooves. One poem in particular, 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.840 in particular that I found that I ultimately didn't like 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.120 well enough to feature in the Cold Open, but it's 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.800 still notable, is The hoofs of the Horses by William 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:32.800 Henry Ogilvy, who lived eighteen sixty nine through nineteen sixty three. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.360 I don't know if you're familiar with this poem, Joe, 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.959 but it's just all about how much he just absolutely 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.080 loves the cadence of horse hooves. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.640 No, I was not familiar with this poem before you 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.239 did share it with me. It is it's an almost 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:50.280 comical level of appreciation for horse hooves, an attitude very 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.760 much of I'll stop thinking about the sound of horse 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.400 hooves when I'm dead, or maybe I won't. When I'm dead, 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.119 I'll still dream of them even in the grave. It's 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.880 also it goes with the plural. I looked it up 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.520 to see is there any difference hooves versus hoofs, and 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.240 it seems like no, I both have been used in English. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.240 I think hoofs with the F plural is more archaic. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.520 Usually, this is one of those poems that you know, 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.280 sometimes I read a really good rhyming poem with great cadence, 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:18.880 and you know, I'm like, why don't we rhyme our 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.240 poems anymore? You know, all poems should rhyme. This is great. 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.880 This is the opposite end of the spectrum for me, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.799 Like this one's just kind of goofy like it starts 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.560 off the hoofs of the horses. Oh, witching and sweet 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.399 is the music Earth steals from the ironshod feet, yeah, 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.560 et cetera. So it's not to my liking, but I 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.000 can understand where someone else might might love it as 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.440 much as this man loved horse hoofs. Well. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.640 It also commits the ultimate sin of rhyming above with love. 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.680 That's you can't you can't come back from that. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.800 But again, it is not the only account of hooves 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.320 or mention of hooves in literature. Shakespeare writes of horses 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.320 quote printing their proud hoofs in the Receiving Earth. Other 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.119 quotes speak of the violence of the hoof, a thing 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.200 that imprints the soil or even the flesh of those 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.680 fallen in war. Here's a bit from the Jackery, a 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.279 fragment by Sidney Lanier who lived eighteen forty two through 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:21.719 eighteen eighty one. Midst of the crowd Old Grisgrion the Maimed, 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.440 a wretched wreck that fate had floated out from the 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.560 deer storm of battle at Poci. A living man whose 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.720 larger moiety was dead and buried on the battlefield. A 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.599 grizzly trunk without arms or legs and scarred with hoof 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:42.039 cuts over cheek and brow lay in his wicker cradle smiling, 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.040 And then later on in the same scene, the protagonists 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.880 comments that quote there is no face of man or 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:53.520 woman here, but showeth print of the hard hoof of war. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.240 Well, I think that's fair. As much as we can 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.719 admire hoofs from afar, I don't think you want to 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.120 come into contact with by way of force. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.240 No, no, absolutely you didn't absolutely do not want to 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.000 be kicked by a horse. On one level, just for 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.760 sheer strength and power of said kick or or the 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.000 weight of said step. But also yeah, the hoof as well, 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.479 explain is it's not an instrument you want make in 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.560 contact with your body with force or speed. Now, there are, 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.560 of course many references to the hoof and the works 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.680 of Cormick McCarthy, the none that I could remember or 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.320 search up that really goes in deep on the weirdness 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.000 and wonder of the horse hoof. Still, here's a favorite 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.039 from Blood Meridian quote under the hoofs of the horses, 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:44.320 the alabaster sand shaped itself in whirls, strangely symmetric like 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.160 iron filings in a field, and these shapes flared and 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:52.520 drew back again, resonating upon that harmonic ground, and then 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.200 turning to swirl away over the plaia, as if the 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.560 very sediment of things contained yet some residue of scentiens, 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:02.480 as if in the trendsit of those riders were a 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.039 thing so profoundly terrible as to register even to the 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:11.039 uttermost granulation of reality. Wow. Yeah, so great line. But also, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.559 you know, Cormack doesn't rest, doesn't really go in hard 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.720 on just how weird it is that horses are strange 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:22.000 mammals running around on highly evolved like finger bones, Like 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.320 there's a there's a weirdness to the hoof that you 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.560 know that he doesn't he even doesn't get into, because 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.680 it's just such a part of, say, the tapestry of 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.839 the American West, you know, in the case of his Westerns. 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.839 It's also possible that I'm forgetting some some key line 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.560 and another of his book, maybe the you know, the 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.640 All the Pretty Horses or one of its sequels. But nothing, 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.760 nothing came to mind or in search when I was 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:50.440 thinking about it just the other day. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.080 Well, maybe here is an amazing place to start. If 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.240 you want to consider the more granular anatomy of the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.360 horse's foot and the hoof. Uh So, look look at 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.960 your hands there. You know you get human hands and 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.839 extend the middle fingers on both of your hands. Obviously, 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:08.480 not if you're. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:09.760 In prospectible things. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.680 Yeah, yeah, in p you know, discreetly extend those two 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:20.280 middle fingers. These are the analogous bone structures that evolved 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.160 in the horse to become the part of the horse's 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:28.440 body that makes contact with the ground. So when horses gallop, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:33.520 they are galloping on adapted versions of your middle fingers. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.800 So you just imagine running out of that middle your 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.080 two middle fingers in front, your two middle toes in 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.200 the back. Uh, those got really thick, really strong. Everything 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.520 else kind of shrank back and receded in a way. 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.280 We can talk later on about whether it makes sense 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.480 to say that the horse still has those other fingers 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.680 in some way or not. But basically that the part 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.320 of the the leg that is making contact with the 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.240 ground and supporting the weight of the horse is the 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:01.240 middle finger. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.920 Yeah, which is just absolutely bonkers when you stop and 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:05.880 think about it. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.160 It is. And the genus T which horses belong is 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.240 unique in this regard among the ungulates. So all of 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.520 the four legged vertebrates on earth that live on land 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.720 share a common ancestor that had five toes on each 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.960 foot had four legs and five toes on each foot. 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.400 That's our heritage, and we walk around on two legs now. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.400 But we are still we're still part of that evolutionary lineage. 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.280 We still have five fingers on our hands and five 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.040 toes on our feet to show for it. But some 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.760 of our cousins in this lineage have undergone more radical 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.680 transformations in the bone structure of these distal regions of 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:50.240 the limbs, the ends of each limb. Hippopotamuses, for example, 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:57.800 have four toes, rhinoceroses and tapers have three toes. Camels, deer, sheep, goats, 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.319 and cattle have two toes. But there is only one 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.640 group of animals existing today that has evolved to have 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.880 a single toe that contacts the ground on each foot, 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.560 and that is horses, or more precisely, the evolutionary group 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.119 to which modern horses belong, which is the genus equus, 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:21.200 which includes horses, zebras, and donkeys. And the scientific term 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:27.160 for having only one toe is monodactyally, So these monodactyls 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.200 are out there running around on their middle fingers that 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.320 when you hear hoof beats, that's what you're hearing, the 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:34.160 middle fingers. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.000 And you know, again this is super weird and glorious. 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:40.480 But at the same time, it would be a mistake 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.520 to think of this as a kind of simplification, you know, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.320 because the horse hoof will be discussing here is anything, 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:52.079 but it's a complex structure composed of hard cornified structures, 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.520 living tissues, tendons, ligaments. 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:54.480 And more. 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.360 You know, there are the various bones we're going to 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.800 be discussing. We should you know, also not make the 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.640 mistake of overestimating the strength of the hoof, because yes, 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.840 it's a highly evolved anatomical feature that serves a horse 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.440 very well in its natural environment, but they are still 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.520 susceptible to injury and illness, and you know, the ravages 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:19.280 of aging plus domestication by humans has of course augmented 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.720 the horse's natural environment and also changed the sort of 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.840 regular wear and tear that they might endure on set hoofs. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.720 So to just doing what I'm gonna do is going 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.160 to provide kind of an overview of the different parts 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.920 of the main outer and inner parts of the horse, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.760 hoof of the foot of the horse. Not in a 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:43.079 way that will just completely bombard the listener with horse terminology, 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.880 but hopefully get across some of the complexity here. And 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.960 if you are a horse person, and I don't know, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.560 maybe you're listening to this podcast whilst you attend to 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.679 the hoofs of a horse, well you might have some 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.760 added information to write into us about. If you're not 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.200 a horse person, then I think you might find some 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.199 of the terminology kind of surprising. I know, not being 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.480 a horse person myself. There there. I remember the first 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.880 time I read Cornick McCarthy's Blood Meridian, there was there 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:13.800 was a bit that really threw me for a curve. 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.840 It goes as follows quote. He got down and drew 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.599 up the horse's leg. The frog of the hoof was 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.640 split and bloody, and the animal's shoulder quivered. He let 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.360 the hoof down. The sun was about two hours high, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.479 and now there was dust on the horizon. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.920 I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:32.800 The frog of the hoof. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:38.480 Yep, the frog of the hoof. So the frog is 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.679 a is a key part of the outer anatomy of 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.680 the horse's foot. This is a wedge shaped mass on 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.240 the bottom of the horse's foot that you know, I suppose, 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.760 kind of looks like a dark frog. According to Robert C. 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.040 McClure at all in a paper titled Functional Anatomy of 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.960 the horse Foot. This was for the University of Missouri, 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.680 the frog is one of the flexible parts of the 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:08.360 hoof's external structures. It normally makes contact with the ground first, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.920 and then it kind of like pushes into the digital cushion, 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.880 an internal mass of flexible material above the frog that 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.280 contributes to the formation of the heels and serves as 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.800 one of the primary shock absorbers in the horse's foot. 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.679 This is an interesting balance to observe with the hoof 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.520 here in that it has a so the outer mass 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.080 of the hoof that you will have observed before you know, 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.400 the hard part is a hard carrat in structure, and 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.520 yet the hoof also has to remain somewhat springy and flexible. 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:41.960 You don't want it to be like a piece of 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.720 concrete that might be really hard but on sufficient impact 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:47.040 is rigid and cracks. 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.560 Yeah. Yeah, again, it would be a gross simplification to 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:52.520 think of a horse as just running around on like 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.679 wooden stilt legs, you know, like that its hoofs are 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.400 just like solid things. It's a lot more complicated than that. 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.080 Now you might be wondering, well, why do they call 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:03.559 it a frog? You may be looking it up to 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.360 see just how much like a frog it, you know, 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.640 to what degree it resembles a frog. I've seen it 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.000 sort of described a couple of different ways that either 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.360 it does roughly look like a frog, and that perhaps 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.160 there's this added level of well, you find it under 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.760 the hoof in the same way a frog might be 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.400 found under a rock or leaf. I don't know. Maybe 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.199 I've also heard that it really more accurately resembles the 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.400 pelvic bone of a frog, which apparently was carried for 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.880 good luck by horsemen. And this also might be tied 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.200 to traditions of the horseshoe, which we're not going to 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.280 really discuss in this episode, but we may get to 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.040 in a subsequent episode these of horseshoes as lucky charms 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:47.440 as well. 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.680 Interesting. Okay, I just looked up the pelvic bone of 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.680 a frog. It kind of looks like the wishbone on 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.200 a chicken. So yeah, I don't know. And I'm looking 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.040 at the frog of a hoof Now it's sort of 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.800 v shaped. Uh, you have to you have to stretch 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.560 your mind a little bit. But I could see that. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.520 Now the frog is apparently made up of the same 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.920 material as the hoof wall. More on what do we 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.600 mean by hoofball in the second, But you can think 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.080 like the outer hoof as you see it, But it's 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.760 more moist certainly if it's healthy, apparently something like fifty 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:21.280 percent moisture or thereabouts. Now, And that's not to say 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.400 that the hoof wall itself is dry. In fact, the 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:26.800 hoof wall or the proper you know hoof that you 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.280 see if you're just looking at a picture of a horse, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.200 it's in fact covered with material that prevents moisture loss. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.520 And with domestic horses, hoof paint is sometimes added as 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.120 well to help contain moisture. So again, even the hardest 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.200 part of the of the horses hoof cannot be really 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.200 thought of as just this, you know, like you rock, 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.600 you know, hard substance, like it's in these these are 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.520 you know, organic structures, and there is moisture to them. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.760 And with the keratin basis. I think you could probably 0:14:57.760 --> 0:14:59.680 think about it more akin to like a like a 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.440 horn or like a thick fingernail exactly. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.400 Yeah. Now, the frog, interestingly enough, is also a scent gland, 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.400 along with the chestnut of the leg and the airgut 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.040 of the fetlock. This is one of the reasons that 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.040 dogs can track horses as well as they can. Plus 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.080 is apparently one of the ways that horses sniff out 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:18.040 each other in the field. 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:19.760 I had no idea. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:21.920 Yeah, there's a hole. There's a hole just un right 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.000 underneath the horse's hoof. There's a whole wonderland of weirdness. 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:27.720 Well, this is funny because we were just talking about beavers, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.240 which apparently, you know, their scent glands and scent markings 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.480 play a big role in their their behavior and how 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.920 they interact with the environment. But I had no idea 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:37.920 that was true of horses. 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.360 Yeah. Now, as we're discuss in a bit horse hoofs, 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.720 the hard part of the hoof grows throughout their life 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.720 and has to either be worn down or trim down. 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:52.520 This is where professional farriers come into play with domestic horses, 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.360 and not only do they have to trim the hoof 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.400 proper but they also have to trim the frog as 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.200 it keeps growing as well, and if not maintained, it 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.400 can lead to some infections conditions like thrush and so forth. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.560 I'm also told by horse and dog people in my 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.400 family that dogs absolutely love it when their friendly neighborhood 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.560 ferry or gives them some hoof or some frog shavings 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.280 to eat. Joe, has this ever been your experience? 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.360 No, I never had a dog get this particular treat, 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:40.240 but I can imagine it's in the ballpark. 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.840 All right. So, moving outward from the frog, it pushes 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.280 against the digital cushion, and when the foot is on 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.160 the ground, the increase in pressure and change and shape 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.720 in the digital cushion and the frog. It kind of 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.880 works everything like a pump forcing blood from the foot 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.840 into the leg. And the clure stresses that quote exercise 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.360 increases the blood circulation in the foot and favors good 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.360 hoof growth. Lack of exercise, dryness of the horny wall, 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.480 and poor nutrition inhibit hoof growth. All right, So let's 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.040 get to that hoof wall. The hoof wall is exactly 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.040 what it sounds like. It's that tough, horny outside part 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.040 of the hoof that's essentially a fingernail. I mean, if 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.919 we're comparing it to what we've got going on, it 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.400 contains no blood, vessels or nerves, and it grows continuously, 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.719 so it has to be worn or trimmed off. And 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.639 to be specific, the hoof wall grows out of the 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.560 cornet located at the junction of the skin and the 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.879 hoof wall. So if you're just looking at a picture 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.000 of a horse's foot, like this is where hoof ends, 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.640 and like you know, the hairy part of the leg 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.640 begins now along with the frog and the bar which 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.040 is part of the wall aka bars of the wall 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.119 bordering the frog. It's a key weight bearing part of 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.560 the hoof. The wall is made up of the toe 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.480 in the front, quarters on the sides, and the heel. Now, 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.320 the interior of the hoof, inside the hoof wall, you 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:00.960 can almost think of, is kind of like this little 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:07.240 kind of U shaped walled city. Is the sole separated 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.640 from the wall by the white line or the golden 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.560 line where the inner wall and the sole joined together. 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.560 The soul does not make contact with the ground and 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.960 it primarily protects the inner structures beneath it. So these 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.200 are all you know, things, with the exception of the 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.280 digital cushion that we reference, like, these are all things 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.280 that you would see if you were a if you 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.320 were just attending to a horse's foot, if you you know, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.840 we're checking out a horseshoe or what have you. Now, again, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:39.639 the hoof is a complex structure, and I'm not going 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:43.160 to attempt to cover every detail of it. Instead, hopefully 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.520 we can cover the key parts of the internet or 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.000 hoof here and provide like a decent audio snapshot of 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.199 what it consists of. And I realize, even with all 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.320 the you know, the terminology we're going through, it still 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.400 might make sense to look up a diagram to see 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.240 exactly what we're talking about. 0:18:57.840 --> 0:18:58.119 Now. 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.480 Internally, it's of course essential to over the phalanxes and phalanges, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.560 essentially the finger bones that make up the hoof, and 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.680 the first of these to cover really is the famous 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.719 coffin bone, which is also known as the petal bone 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:20.359 or the distal phalanx or p three. It's contained in 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:24.439 the hoof capsule and provides its shape. It contains no 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.439 bone marrow, but it has a lot of blood vessels, 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.320 and the name apparently has to do with the fact 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.760 that it's entirely seated within the hoof wall, in the 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:34.720 interior of the hoof, as if it were positioned within 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.680 a coffin. It does not look like a coffin per se. 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.679 The fact that it seems to be positioned within a coffin, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.119 shouldn't that make it the corpse bone rather than the 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.480 coffin bone or the cadaver bone, you. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.280 Would think, you would think, I don't know. I couldn't 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.840 run down any additional information on where this comes from 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.479 other than just like you know, the built up lingo 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.920 of horse people over time. So if we have horse 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.520 people out there listening to the show that have more 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.240 insight on this, certainly right end, Oh, please be gentle. 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:07.880 We are used to working with horses. Of course they're 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.000 gonna they're gonna be gentle. Okay. Now, more broadly, the 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.679 pedal bone is the bottommost bone in the front and 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.360 rear legs of horses, cattle, pigs, and other ruminants. Then 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:22.320 there's the navicular bone, uh so named because it's shaped 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:25.119 like a boat, and looking at images of it, at 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.840 least from the horse, I thought it also reminds me 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.800 a bit of a whale's tail as well. But I'm 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.000 to understand. It's named this because it looks kind of 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.800 like a boat. It's also known as the distal sesamoid bone. 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:42.800 Most mammals have a navicular bone in their feet. Then 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.280 there's also the short pastern bone or middle phalanx. Its 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.439 positioned to top the articulating joint of the pedal bone, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.160 with only the bottom portion extending to the hoof capsule, 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.720 essentially a fingerbone. So I don't know to what extent 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:02.199 all that accurately conveyed the complexity and the beauty of 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.560 a horse's hoof. Of a horse's foot, but I guess, 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.480 if anything, it should remind you like the horse hoof, 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.480 easy to draw, but far more complicated than you might think. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:14.800 Well, another way to look at it is like if 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.159 you look up a diagram of the bones in the 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.040 horse's hoof, It's not just like a straight bone down 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.320 to the ground ending in a nail. There are actually 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:27.520 a lot of bones, little bones crammed up in there, 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:29.200 kind of in the same way that you would see 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.800 a lot of little bones making up the human hand, 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.560 except in the case of a horse, it has been 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:39.800 streamlined into one more continuous vertical structure or column, with 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.320 the different bones kind of supporting each other in that 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:45.439 column as opposed to in the hand the way these 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.879 bones are kind of fanned out. Yes, Now, Rob, before 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.760 we got recording today, you sent me a picture of 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.719 a famous horse from I was going to say history, 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.480 but maybe better to say legend. The meat point of 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:05.560 legend and history. That really revealed something to me, and 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.520 it's that there are certain features that are often quite 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:14.720 surprising to discover, are really unsettling to find on an animal. 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:19.199