THE HORSE'S FEET. 101 



Mr. Whittaker of Needham. I think the doctor's 

 remarks were very good with regard to his horse suffering 

 from cold feet. We have all of us, at one time or another, 

 felt in ourselves what it is to be out a whole day in slush 

 and cold, and go home with cold feet ; and probably a good 

 many of us have taken severe colds from doing so. In such 

 cases I apply the same remedy to my horse that I apply to 

 myself. When I have been out the whole day in cold and 

 slush, and come home with my feet very wet and cold, the 

 first thing I do is to put them in warm water up to my knees, 

 to restore the natural heat as quickly as possible ; and, when 

 my horse has been out in the same way, I wash her feet with 

 warm water, and have them rubbed diy. I think that is 

 much better than waiting to see whether there is any fever 

 afterwards. I know they will be cold ; and I bring the blood 

 as quickly as possible down into the feet, which has been 

 prevented from going there on account of the closing of the 

 veins and arteries. 



I have another difficulty with my horse's feet ; and that is 

 in summer-time, when the ground is dry and hard, and 

 when my stable-floor is dry and hard. I scarcely ever find 

 a blacksmith who keeps a tool so sharp that it will pare the 

 hoofs. I find a difficulty with the hoofs on account of their 

 being dry and hard. I think a great many troubles arise to 

 horses' feet from bad and injudicious shoeing ; and I think a 

 great many other difficulties arise in horses' feet from injudi- 

 cious management and driving. I think one of the difficul- 

 ties comes from driving horses, particularly heavy horses 

 that step high, down a steep hill at a great speed. I think 

 it not only injures the horse's feet, but it has a very bad 

 effect on the horse's shoulder, because the whole weight of 

 that horse is thrown upon one foot. It is a great deal worse 

 to drive a horse fast on a trot down hill than it is to put him 

 into a dead-run. When he is running, all four of his feet 

 sustain his weight ; but, when he is trotting, one foot takes 

 the whole weight of the horse as it comes down, which has 

 a bad effect both on the feet and on the shoulder. 



In regard to this matter of transmitting the powers of 

 a horse to its progeny, I think one feature has been over- 

 looked by every one to-day, and I think it was entirely 

 overlooked by Mr. Russell. He said that keeping a horse in 



