74: THE HORSE. 



be in the slightest degree weakened. If they are 

 weakened, the pressure on the corns will become the 

 greater, and the disease, in place of being cured, will 

 be increased. 



GROWTH OF THE FEET. 



If young horses were to receive the attention they de- 

 serve from the time of their weaning, they would have 

 much better shaped and sounder feet than they have 

 under the present system of management. In place of 

 expecting a large number of well-formed feet, we 

 should rather be surprised to see one at all, when we 

 reflect upon the manner in which the poor animals are 

 generally reared. Young horses are often kept stand- 

 ing in moisture and filth, till their feet are ruined by 

 the ravages of thrushes, and their hoofs are seldom 

 dressed before they have grown to such an extent, that 

 the unfortunate creatures are obliged to walk almost on 

 the back of the pasterns. If the stall were daily swept 

 and littered, it would tend very much to the health of 

 the foot, as well as to the comfort of the animal. The 

 feet should not be kept either too moist or too dry, as 

 either extreme is injm-ious. They should be di'essed 

 regularly every fourth week, in the same way as if they 

 were to be shod. If this is done with judgment and 

 discretion, they will be brought into the most suitable 

 form, and the animal will turn out much more valuable 



