PREPARATION FOR A RACE. 339 



amined to see that they are all right. The feet should be 

 examined every night to see that no gravel or sand is insinu- 

 ated under the shoe so as to bruise the sole. 



Stopping the Feet consists in applying some moist matter to 

 the sole to keep it soft and elastic. Only the fore-feet are- 

 stopped. The common stopping is either cow-dung or clay, or 

 a mixture of both. Other substances are used. If the sole is 

 dry and stiff, the feet may be stopped from one to three nights 

 during the Aveek. The condition of the sole is the only rule. 

 Farm-horses generally require no stopping. It would be well 

 to stop the feet the night before the horse is to be shod. 



Oiling the Hoof is generally a useless practice. It does no 

 permanent good even to the brittle hoof. (For a further con- 

 sideration of the feet, see the article on the "Horse's Foot.") 



PREPARATION FOR A RACE. 



To show the reader the amount of attention it is necessary 

 to give a horse to develop his highest powers, I will give the 

 proper method of preparing a horse for a race. Similar 

 preparation, in some respects, may be necessary for horses 

 designed for other severe service. The principles involved 

 in the preparation for a race are valuable to those prepar- 

 ins: horses for fairs and exhibitions. 



About three or four weeks before the horse is to be put 

 on the track, (four, if he is taken off grass, or three, if off 

 dry feed, will answer, but four weeks is preferable in either 

 case), six quarts of blood should be taken from the neck- 

 vein, and, two days after, a thorough physic must be given. 

 The object is to relax his system, cleanse the alimentary canal 

 from any dregs of his former feeding, and prevent the liability 

 of his new course of feeding and treatment from disagreeing 

 with him, which it will be very likely to do if these measures 

 are omitted. His exercise must not be commenced until this 

 has been done. 



Good, clean timothy hay, having first thrashed it with a 



