240 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or ill the qnarttM'. They are most frequent in tlie fore feet, iiiul in the inside 

 (luarter. Horses having bad sand cracks, or having thin, brittle walls, should 

 have their lioofs kept moist, during the summer, by soaking the feet in water, 

 and in many cases it is well to })lacc the feet in poultices of bran or linseed 

 meal, and the wall should be anointed with glycerine from time to time. 



If there may be any one present who thirsts for recipes, prescriptions, or 

 specific remedies, I would commend to him as a foot ointment, pure glycerine, 

 it being simple, cheap, and cleanly, and quite as, if not more, beneficial to the 

 horse's foot than all the nostrums he can buy in the country at a double or 

 trebled cost for half the quantity; and while we have the matter in hand, I 

 ■will say that a bran or linseed-meal poultice will be found much more effectual 

 for softening the horse's hoof than those relics of barbarism, which a due 

 respect for my audience forbids me to enumerate. A contracted condition of 

 the horse's hoof is not rare ; it may be present as a primary affection, or as the 

 effect of other diseases, or of bad shoing. Contraction always accompanies 

 the disease of the navicular joint. In case of contracted feet we should en- 

 deavor to keep the wall moist and elastic, and it is often well to apply an irri- 

 tant to the coronet, which will stimulate the secretion of horn; a small quan- 

 tity of tincture of cantharides should be well rubbed into the skin just above 

 the hoof. If the nature of the ground on which the horse walks will i^ermifc 

 he should be allowed to go unshod for a time. 



During the dry season we usually have in the late summer, or when a horse 

 is taken from pasture and placed on a dry floor, we sometimes find that he be- 

 comes lame without showing any particular point or seat of the pain, but if we 

 give him foot-baths or poultices, we find that the lameness is soon gone. The 

 lameness in this case is due to an over-dry condition of the wall, and the horse 

 may be said to be hoof-bound. In taking a horse from a long season at pas- 

 ture, it is an excellent plan to use the foot-bath or poultice frequently at first, 

 and to leave off by degrees. Glycerine also may be applied with advantage. 

 Navicular disease is rarely met with in rural districts, save in horses that have 

 worked a long time on city pavements, and, as it is considered incurable, we 

 need do nothing more than to make the animal comfortable as possible ; work- 

 ing on soft ground and at a slow pace. Laminitis or founder is congested or 

 inflamed condition of the sensitive laminre. It is caused by over-feeding, 

 over-driving, or working, over-drinking, or drinking when the body is unduly 

 heated, want of exercise, and bad shoeing, with some other causes that are 

 not found on the farm in ordinary circumstances. It has been claimed "that 

 a foot having a healthy hoof cannot be foundered;" but the men who hold 

 and teach such an opinion can have but a most imperfect idea of the nature 

 of laminitis, and of the structures it affects; just as the fairest human skin 

 may become the seat of irritation, and be covered with blotches through a de- 

 ranged digestive system, so may the horse's foot be congested, or inflamed, 

 through an irritated condition of his digestive system, though it may be in- 

 casedby the healthiest and strongest of hoofs. Every precaution should be 

 taken during the winter to prevent attacks of this diease ; when horses are 

 idle they should be turned into a roomy yard, where they can take plenty of 

 exercise, and grain sliould be fed in moderate quantities. If a horse has be- 

 come foundered, and the disease has assumed the chronic form, he should be 

 favored as much as possible ; being kept on the farm and given slow work. 

 The hoofs should be kept moist, and if thin, the coronet may be irritated 

 with the tincture of cantharides, as I have described. 



It is an excellent plan to allow horses affected with founder, to stand with 



