THE HORSE. 9 



violent exercise. Horses with small hoofs are more 

 moderate in their action : their feet are not subject 

 to violent inflammation. When inflammation does 

 take place, it is usually slow, and some time elapses 

 before it produces lameness ; with a little care they 

 are generally kept in health, and must be pronounced 

 be SOUND. 



Open Hoofs. 



The larger-footed horse has more useless weight of 

 his own, not only from having been accustomed to wet, 

 low situations, but also from having had, when young, 

 a greater abundance of food. From having had less 

 exercise, and from the heaviness of the atmosphere 

 inducing quiet, the horn of his hoof has become thin, 

 soft, and weak. The action of this class of horse 

 is high, which is peculiarly bad for the shape of his 

 feet. This habit has been acquired through his having 

 been obliged in marshy situations to clear his feet ftom 

 the soil. 



It must be obvious to every one, that bringing these 

 horses into dry stables, and making them work upon 

 hard and dry ground, aggravated by their high action, 

 does a greater violence to them than to the small- 

 footed animal ; and, as a natural consequence, a very 

 little work produces serious inflammation, pumice-sole, 

 and sometimes perpetual lameness. 





