CONDITION RESUMED 153 



into a loose box. He had been soiled for a fortnight 

 on clover, which had let his carcase down a little ; 

 but in every other respect he was fit to go to hounds 

 at a week's notice, and his groom had ridden him ten 

 miles that morning on the road. 



On my journey homewards I saw the Earl of Jersey's 

 groom, and found his horses treated exactly in the 

 same manner as Lord Plymouth's, with the exception 

 of their not being ridden out. They were, night and 

 day, in large loose places, with chains across the doors, 

 which were open ; and they were full of com. I 

 asked his groom, whom I have known many years — 

 and a most excellent servant he is, and high in his 

 master's confidence — whether he kept their shoes on 

 or off ? when he told me they wore half shoes, or tips, 

 merely because they kept the stopping in their feet, 

 by which means they were kept moist. 



When on the subject of feet, I cannot pass over a 

 passage I have met with in Mr Goodwin's work,^ which 

 I here transcribe. 



" I have invariably observed," says Mr Goodwin, 

 " where horses are turned out to grass during the dry 

 and hot summer months, that, on bringing them up 

 to be put into stable condition, their feet are in a 

 much worse state than they were when they went out, 

 dried up, and so hard and brittle, that, on the applica- 

 tion of a tool to bring them into a form fit to receive 

 a shoe, the horn breaks like a piece of glass, and all 

 the naturally tough and elastic property is lost, so 

 that it requires some months to remove the bad effects. 



' This is an old work on " The Diseases of the Feet." 



