DAILY EXERCISE. 255 
rather than to cure it, but when horses are bought, or come home from 
grass with it, the curative method must be carried out. 
THE REMOVAL OF THE SHOES at regular intervals, whether they are worn 
out or not, is a most important part of the duties of the groom. On 
examining the shape of the foot it will be seen that the diameter of the 
circle in contact with the shoe is greater than that of the coronet, and 
hence as the shoe is forced away from its original position by the growth 
of the horn it confines the walls to the extent of the difference between 
the diameter of the foot at its old position and that of the part which it 
now occupies. Jor if two lines from the surface of the coronet on each 
side were continued through the outside surface of the crust to the new 
seat of the shoe, they would be far from parallel, and yet the shoe nails 
must have been carried on in perfect parallel lines on account of the 
unyielding nature of iron. For this reason a shoe, when it has not been 
removed at the end of a month, will be found to lie within the heel of 
one side or the other, by which to some extent contraction is prevented, 
but at the expense of the heel, into which the corresponding part of the 
shoe has entered. This is a frequent cause of corns, and horses which 
have once been subject to that disease should have their shoes removed 
once a fortnight. 
ONE OF THE MOST ANNOYING ACCIDENTS to the horseman is the loss of a 
shoe, whether it happens in the hunting field or on the road. Some 
horses can scarcely be prevented by any care of their grooms from pulling 
off a shoe in hunting when they get into deep ground, but on the road 
there is no such excuse, and the frequent loss of a shoe by the hack or 
harness-horse is sufficient to condemn the groom of carelessness in this 
particular. Every morning when the feet are picked out it is easy to look 
the shoes over and feel if they are tight. The clenches also ought to be 
examined, and if they are not raised at all it may safely be predicated that 
the day’s journey will be completed without the shoe being lost. A raised 
clench may severely cut a horse on the inside of the other leg, and in 
those who are predisposed to “speedy cut” it may cause severe injury, 
and perhaps occasion a fall of the most dangerous character. 
DAILY EXERCISE. 
WITHOUT REGULAR EXERCISE no horse can long be kept in health, and 
I believe that as far as this point is concerned even those which are hard- 
worked would be the better for half an hour’s airing every morning as 
soon as they have been fed and before they are dressed. But those 
masters who are particular about the mouths of the animals they ride or 
drive, find that the hands of their grooms are generally so heavy that they 
spoil the delicate “feel” on which the comfort and pleasure of riding and 
driving so much depends. Hence in such cases the poor horse is con- 
demned to confinement in his stable, not only on the day when he is to 
be ridden or driven, but on those also when he is to be idle. The health 
of the body is sacrificed to the maintenance of that delicate condition of 
the mouth which is so highly prized by good horsemen and accomplished 
whips, and I confess that I plead guilty to having for a long series of 
years acted on this principle. A fair share of health may be maintained 
without exercise if the work is never interrupted for more than a single 
day, and at the same time there being only one pair of hands to interfere 
with the mouth, its delicacy is not impaired, that is to say if they are not 
