38 



HORSE—DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



ages. A cold douche by means of a 

 forcing garden engine is also extremely 

 beneficial to the legs, Lut it must be used 

 out of doors, as it will wet the litter and 

 the walls of the stall if the water is 

 splashed over them within doors. 



For Drying and Warming the Legs 

 when the horse is being dressed, flannel 

 is the only proper material for bandages. 

 Its modes of application is not of much 

 consequence, provided the bandages are 

 put on moderately loose, for tight pres- 

 sure has a tendency to prevent the return 

 of natural heat, which is so much desired. 

 After wetting the legs the bandages should 

 be applied somewhat more tightly, so as 

 absorb the moisture as much as possible. 



HORSE, FEET, Management of the.— 

 In the stabled horses the feet require con- 

 stant care, for they are not only artificially 

 shod, but they are allowed to stand on a 

 material which is a much worse conduc- 

 tor of heat than the surface of the earth, 

 by nature designed to bear them. Hence, 

 if neglected, they either become hard and 

 brittle, or they are allowed to be con- 

 stantly wet, and then the soft covering of 

 the frog is decomposed, and emits a dis- 

 agreeably smelling discharge, which soon 

 wastes it away, leaving no other protec- 

 tion to the sensible organ beneath, and 

 constituting what is called an ordinary 

 thrush. Again, it is found by experience, 

 that not only must the shoes be renewed 

 as they wear out, but even if no work is 

 done, and consequently they are not re- 

 duced in size, they no longer fit at the 

 expiration of about three weeks, and they 

 must be removed, to allow a portion of 

 the sole and crust being cut away before 

 they are again put on. The groom must 

 therefore attend to the following points : 

 First, to prevent the feet from becoming 

 too dry ; secondly, to take measures against 

 their becoming thrushy from wet; thirdly, 

 to see that the shoes are removed at the 

 end of every three weeks, or more fre- 

 quently if necessary; and fourthly, to 

 examine carefully every day that they are 

 securely nailed on without any of the 

 clenches having started up from the sur- 

 face, so as to endanger the other leg. 



Dryness of the Feet is prevented by the 

 use of what is called stopping, which is 

 composed either of cow-dung alone, or 

 cow-dung and clay mixed, or of cow- 

 dung and pitch. The first is by far the 



most powerful application, but it moistens- 

 the sole too much if employed every 

 night, and then produces the opposite 

 evil in the shape of thrush. A mixture 

 of equal parts of cow-dung and clay may 

 be used every night with advantage, and 

 this we believe to be the best of all stop- 

 pings. It should be kept in a strong box 

 of wood, about a foot long and eight 

 inches wide, with a handle across the top, 

 and it should be applied the last thing at 

 night to the soles of the fore feet only, by 

 means of a thin piece of wood, a foot 

 long and a couple of inches wide, with 

 which the space within the shoe is com- 

 pletely stuffed. If the feet are obstinately 

 dry, in spite of repeated stoppings with 

 cow-dung alone, which will rarely be the 

 case, a tablespoonful of salt maybe added 

 to the cow-dung, and this will never fail. 

 For most horses stopping with cow-dung 

 alone once a week is sufficient, but the 

 groom can judge for himself, by their 

 appearance, of the number of stoppings 

 required. If three parts of cow-dung 

 and one of clay are used, the feet may be 

 stopped twice a week, or, perhaps, every 

 other night, and if equal parts of each 

 are adopted as the composition, almost 

 any feet will bear being stopped every 

 other night, with exception of flat or 

 pumiced soles, which should never be 

 stopped at all. On the night before shoe- 

 ing, every horse, even if he has flat soles, 

 will be the better for having his feet stop- 

 ped, the application softening the horn so 

 as to allow the smith to use his knife to 

 slice it without breaking it into crumbling 

 fragments. Several patents have been 

 taken out for felt pads, to be soaked in 

 water, and then soaked in the hollow of 

 the shoe, but they do not answer nearly 

 so well as cow-dung stopping, which has 

 far more emollient qualities than mere 

 water. We believe nothing has yet been 

 discovered which has qualities at all equal 

 to this old-fashioned natural remedy. 



Thrushes are prevented by keeping the 

 frogs free from ragged layers of elastic 

 substances of which they are partly com- 

 posed, and at the same time by maintain- 

 ing a dry state of the litter on which 

 the horse stands. We are now consid- 

 ering the management of the horse at 

 grass, where thrushes are generally pro- 

 duced when the weather is very wet, or 

 when the pasture is of too marshy a. 



