GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 101 



so as to keep them within the hoof. Most frequently it 

 is the inside heel, in which case a three-quarter shoe at 

 once remedies the evil. 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE'S 



FOOT. 



After what has been said with regard to the manage- 

 ment of the horse's foot in shoeing, there is but little to 

 add concerning its general treatment ; as shoeing influ- 

 ences more or less, for good or for evil, the general con- 

 dition of that organ, and renders its ordinary manage- 

 ment either a matter of much or of trifling moment. 



When it has been robbed of its horn by the farrier, 

 and brought to such an artificial and abnormal state as 

 we have indicated, then its preservation in any thing like 

 a healthy or efficient condition is a matter of no small 

 difficulty, and appears sometimes to demand very curious 

 and often by no means reasonable practices on the part 

 of the groom. 



The most common are : applying to the face of the 

 wall tar, oil, fish-oil, or advertised mixtures of various 

 kinds to make the horn grow, prevent brittleness, cure 

 diseases, etc. ; and to the sole plates of leather, bolsters 

 of tow steeped in tar, filthy applications of cow-dung, 

 mud or clay, and other matters. 



It is scarcely necessary to say that to the unpared and 

 unrasped hoof these are not only unnecessary, but some 

 of them even positively hurtful. Oil, for instance, not 

 only renders the wall brittle, but loosens the nails; 

 while cow-dung, from the ammonia it contains, destroys 

 the frogs. 



The unmutilated hoof is easily kept in health. All 

 it requires is keeping cool, and moistening occasionally 



