286 THE HORSE 



not reduced in size, they no longer fit at the expiration of about three 

 weeks, and they must then be removed. The groom must therefore 

 attend to the following points : — Fh^st, to prevent the feet from becoming 

 too dry ; secondly, to take measures against their becoming thrushy 

 from wet ; thirdly, to see that the shoes are removed at the end of every 

 three weeks, or more frequently if necessary ; and fourthly, to examine 

 carefully every day that they are securely nailed on without any of the 

 clenches having started up from the surface, so as to endanger the 

 other leg. 



Dryness op the feet is prevented by the use of what is called stopping, 

 which is composed either of cow-dung alone, or cow-dung and clay mixed, 

 or of cow-dung and pitch. The first is by far the most powerful applica- 

 tion, but it moistens the sole too much if employed every night, and then 

 produces the opposite evil in the shape of thrush. A mixture of equal 

 parts of cow-dung and clay may be used every night with advantage, and 

 this I believe to be the best of all stoppings. It should be kept in a 

 strong box of wood, about a foot long and eight inches wide, with a 

 handle across the top, and it should be applied the last thing at night to 

 the soles of the fore-feet only, by means of a thin piece of wood, a foot 

 long and a couple of inches wide, with which the space between the shoe 

 is completely stuffed. If the feet are obstinately dry, in spite of repeated 

 stoppings with cow-dung alone, which will rarely be the case, a table- 

 spoonful of salt may be added to the cow-dung, and this will never fail. 

 For most horses stopping with cow-dung alone once a week is sufficient, 

 but the groom can judge for himself, by their appearance, of the number of 

 stoppings required. If three parts of cow-dung and one of clay are used, 

 the feet may be stopped twice a week, or perhaps eveiy other night, and if 

 equal parts of each are adopted as the composition, almost any feet will 

 bear being stopped every other night, with the exception of flat or 

 pumiced soles, which should never be stopped at all. Several patents have 

 been taken out for felt pads, to be soaked in water, and then inserted in 

 the hollow of the shoe, but they do not answer nearly so well as cow-dung 

 stopping, which has far more emollient qualities than mere water. I 

 believe nothing has yet been discovered which has qualities at all equal 

 to this old-fashioned natural remedy. 



Thrushes are prevented by keeping the frogs free from ragged layers 

 of the elastic substance of which they are partly composed, and at the 

 same time by maintaining a dry state of the litter on which the horse 

 stands. I am not now considering the management of the horse at grass, 

 where thrushes are generally produced when the weather is very wet, or 

 when the pasture is of too marshy a character, but the frogs of the stabled 

 horse, which ought never to be allowed to be so moist as to become 

 decomposed. Some ulcerated conditions of the frog which are still con- 

 sidered to come under the general denomination " thrush," are due to 

 severe internal disease of the bones of the foot, and are not caused by 

 moisture at all. Still these are rare exceptions, and the ordinary thrush 

 of the stable may be considered as caused in the latter way. Cases are 

 also occasionally to be dealt with, in which from general grossness of the 

 system, the sensible frog throws off part of its horny covering, and 

 secretes a foul matter instead. The management of these diseased con- 



