MANAGEMENT OF THE FEET. 127 



making it brittle, an ointment should be applied to prevent 

 the absorption of water. 



The times of anointing must vary with the state of the foot, 

 and the state of the road. During wet weather the thin foot 

 should be oiled before the horse goes out, and the strong 

 thick foot after the horse comes- in. When the air is hot and 

 dry, or the road deep and sandy, the ointment will generally 

 require to be renewed every second day. 



Fish oil is in general use for anointing the hoof; tar, lard, 

 oil, and bees'-wax, melted together in equal proportions, form 

 a better and more durable application. Pitch, applied warm, 

 lasts still longer, but it does not look well. It may be useful 

 when the horse is going to grass. The hind feet are often 

 anointed, but they seldom need it. The hoofs of cart-horses 

 are usually coated with tar when they are shod, and, if they 

 need such an application at all, this is the time to make it. 

 [We have great doubts as to the utility of oiling the horse's 

 hoof, and in any event, it should be done with great caution. 

 Youatt says, that oils and ointments close the pores of the 

 feet, and ultimately increase the dryness and brittleness which 

 they were designed to remedy.] 



MOISTURE TO THE WALL, besides softening the horn, has 

 considerable influence upon its growth. In some horses the 

 horn grows very slowly, in others very quickly. A deficiency 

 is common among heavy draught-horses, and is often a serious 

 evil. There are only two ways of increasing the growth : 

 the one is to blister once or twice around the coronet, the 

 other is to keep the foot constantly saturated with water. In 

 both cases the horse must be thrown off work. Moisture 

 might be applied to any extent in the stable, and the horse 

 still kept on duty. But then the horn yields so much that 

 this remedy creates as great an evil as it removes. The horn 

 grows in more abundance, but the sole sinks till the foot is 

 almost or totally ruined. This happens, however, only to 

 horses of great weight, it is necessary, therefore, in apply- 

 ing much moisture to their feet, to turn such horses into a 

 marsh for two or three months with grass plates. There the 

 foot will receive moisture to increase its growth, and the sole 

 will receive sufficient support to prevent its descent. These 

 two, moisture and support, can not be fully obtained while the 

 horse continues in work. The clay-box is a tolerable substi 

 tute for a marsh. 



When the secretion of horn is deficient in horses of less 

 weight, with soles less flattened, moisture may be applied t* 



