65 



tent anymore than a bull's horn. If it 

 were otherwise, horses that are worked in 

 water, or on muddy roads, for weeks at a 

 time, as they constantly are, would be very 

 soon disabled, and horses that traverse the 

 hot and sandy deserts of Arabia would 

 soon have nothing of the foot left but a 

 friable, broken-up mass of crumbling hoof. 



And thus we can see how futile must be 

 the effect of poultices and wet applications 

 and the various hoof ointments that are 

 so much relied on to improve the texture 

 and condition of the hoof They simply 

 produce the effect of a temporary varnish, 

 improving, perhaps, its appearance, and 

 thus deceiving the eye without affecting 

 in any way its substance. 



Any change in the quality and texture 



