Coolman - Henry
Source: Crawfordsville Sunday Star May 12, 1902
Henry Coolman is a Self made man and he has made of his business a splendid success through merit and a high order of intelligence and rarest of business energy. He has been a citizen of Crawfoardsville for over 20 years and he has studied his profession until he is regarded all over this part of the country as a standard authority of horse-shoeing in all its varied branches. His shop on West Market Street is as neat as a parlor and a large and commodious, built with an eye single to conveniece and sanitary surroundings. He has a handsome neatly furnished waiting room where the ladies can sit while having the horses looked after, while nothing is lacking in appliances and skilled workmen to make his calling a success. He never will employ any except the best workmen and he drills them with all the precision of a young class of students in a technical school of some sort. He is the greatest track shower in the country and at this day of fine driving horses his services are in great demand. He makes a specialty of rubber shoes for horses whose feet have been neglected and he can soon restore bad and crippled feet to natural condition. In his office and at his home can be found rare and expensive books treating on horse shoeing and horses generally. He is a well read up man and it is a rare pleasure to converse with him.
"What can you tell me abou the anatomy of a horse's foot? asked the reporter with a nose for a good story.
"A whole lot," replied Mr. Coolman." Then continued:
Fully appreciating the importance of these suggestions and knowing that an accumulation of detail often deters the average reader and thus defeats the design of the authority, a concise review of the general anatomy of the horse's foot may be introduced here, containing only the briefest hint of the essential organs of locomotion, which may serve as a convenient reference chart in the general features of the subject under discussion.
Speaking first of the external structure of the foot alone, the parts withe which the farrier has to deal, are the wall, sole, bars and frog, all well enough known by name, but less familiar in their relations with other parts and the mode of their on operation.
The hoof is composed of horay, hair-like fibers, closely matted together and forms the natural protection of the sensitive foot.
The wall is that part of the hoof visible when the foot rests naturally on the ground, and is the main factor in bearing the horse's weight.
The bars are a continuation of the wall forming the anbles of the heel, and assist in the lateral expansion and oppose contraction of the heels and quarters.
The sole is contined within the lower margin of the wall, and is a concaved plate of flexible born covering the ground surface of the foot.
The frog forms the back part of the sole between the bars and is the natural buffer of the foot for the prevention of injury and jar to the limb.
The wall grown indefinitely, but the sole and frog naturally throw of flakes or scales when they have grown to a certain thickness and are essential in their entirety for the maintenance of the foot in health and its protection from injury. The hoof incloses the coffin (?) bone, which is the terminal bone of the leg.
To this bone are attached the principal tends that bend and thrust the foot forward, and to it also grow the tough but tender, leafy tissues which dovetail into horny ridges on the wall; these attachments being technically called the sensitive and insensitive lamine. These leafy tissues working together, carry the stress of weight with an elastic movement, their variation, under pressure and without, being found to be about 1/4 of an inch. The result is a wonderful elastic spring between the end of the leg and the external hoof, and this with the springy action of the coronary and frog cushions and lateral cartilages, acting together with the expansion of the arched bars - all being compressible under pressure - is the wise provisions of nature to ward off and minimize the concussion on a horse's foot in motion
This shows the importance of the horse shoer being up on the anatomy of the horses's hoof. - transcribed by kbz
A good likeness of a man who has done much to dignify and elevate his profession. The face is one familiar to all men who own horses and have the abiding love, for them that stimulates a wish for their perrfect care and protection.
