HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



39 



character, but the frogs of the stabled 

 horse, which ought never to be allowed to 

 be so moist as to become decomposed. 

 Some ulcerated conditions of the frog 

 which are still considered to come under 

 the general denomination "thrush," are 

 due to several internal diseases of the 

 bones of the foot, and are not caused by 

 moisture at all. Still these are rare ex- 

 ceptions, and the ordinary thrush of the 

 stable may be considered as invariably 

 caused in the latter way. Cases are also 

 occasionally to be met with in which, 

 from general grossness of the system, the 

 sensible frog throws off part of its horny 

 covering, and secretes a foul matter in- 

 stead. The management of these dis- 

 eased conditions comes within the prov- 

 ince of the veterinarian, and we shall 

 therefore not enter upon its considera- 

 tion ; but the prevention of the mere de- 

 composition of the external surface by 

 moisture is a part of the duties of the 

 groom, and so is the application of the 

 proper remedies for it, as soon as the 

 nature of the case is clearly made out. 

 Here antiseptic astringents, which are 

 quite out of place in inflammatory thrush, 

 are the only useful applications, and by 

 their means alone can decomposition be 

 stopped. Of these Sir. W. Burnett's so- 

 lution of chloride of zinc is the best, but 

 in mild cases, Condy's fluid, which is the 

 permanganate of potass, will answer well, 

 and is not so poisonous in its nature if 

 carelessly left about. Friar's Balsam, 

 with as much of the sulphate of zinc dis- 

 solved in it as it will take up, is the old- 

 fashioned grooms' remedy for the thrush, 

 and a very good one it is, if carefully in- 

 sinuated into the cleft of the frog on a 

 piece of tow wetted with it. The grand 

 principle, however, is to prevent thrush 

 rather than "to cure it, but when horses 

 are bought, or come home from the grass 

 with it, the curative method must be car- 

 ried out. 



The removal of the shoes at regular in- 

 tervals, whether they are worn out or not, 

 is a mcst important part of the duties of 

 the groom. On examining the shape of 

 the foot it will be seen that the diameter 

 of the circle in contact with the shoe is 

 greater than that of the coronet, and 

 hence as the shoe is forced away from its 

 original position, by the growth of the 

 horn, it confines the walls to the extent of 



the difference between the diameter of the 

 foot at its old position and that of the 

 part which it now occupies. For if two- 

 lines from the surface of the coronet on 

 each side were continued through the out- 

 side surface of the crust to the new seat 

 of the shoe, they would be far from par- 

 allel, and yet the shoe nails must have 

 been carried on in perfect parallel lines on 

 account of the unyielding nature of iron. 

 For this reason a shoe, when it has not 

 been removed at the end of a month, will 

 be found to lie within the heel of one side 

 or the other, by which to some extent con- 

 traction is prevented, but at the expense 

 of the heel, into which the corresponding 

 part of the shoe has entered. This is a 

 frequent case of corns, and horses which 

 have once been subject to that disease 

 should have their shoes removed once a 

 fortnight. 



One of the most annoying accidents to 

 the horseman is the loss of a shoe, whether 

 it happens in the hunting field or on the 

 road. Some horses can scarcely be pre- 

 vented by any care of their grooms from 

 pulling off a shoe in hunting when they 

 get into deep ground, but on the road 

 there is no such excuse, and the frequent 

 loss of a shoe by the hack or harness- 

 horse is sufficient to condemn the groom 

 of carelessness in this particular. Every 

 morning when the feet are picked out it is 

 easy to look the shoes over and see if they 

 are tight. The clenches also ought to be 

 examined, and if they are not raised at all 

 it may safely be predicated that the day's 

 journey will be completed without the 

 shoe being lost. A raised clench may se- 

 verely cut a horse on the inside of the 

 other leg, and in those who are predis- 

 posed to "speedy cut" it may cause se- 

 vere injury, and perhaps occasion a fall of 

 the most dangerous character. 



HORSE, STABLE, Proper Treatment of 

 the. — There is scarcely any point upon 

 which there is so much difference of opin- 

 ion, as in relation to the temperature of 

 stables. Some contend for an amount of 

 heat which would raise Fahrenheit's ther- 

 mometer to 65 or 70 , while others- 

 would never have their stables, if they 

 could help it, above 45 °. So much de- 

 pends upon the kind of horse in them, 

 and the work he has to do, that is to say r 

 whether he is much exposed to the cold 

 or not, that no rule can be laid down 



