248 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



single box stall and several straight stalls, but the 

 health of the horses is looked after so carefully that 

 these accommodations are sufficient. When I visited 

 the place it contained but two patients. One was a 

 tine gray engine horse, who, while running to a fire, 

 came in collision with a "tow" horse, and was thrown 

 down. His knees and hind legs were badly cut, but 

 none of these injuries proved serious, and he was 

 soon on the road to recovery. The other patient, also 

 an engine horse, was suffering from a bad leg, caused 

 partly by improper shoeing, and partly by the state 

 of his blood. With the exception of these two, all 

 the horses in the department, numbering about two 

 hundred, were in working order, — an excellent 

 showing. 



Fire horses, as a rule, give out first and chiefly in 

 their feet. Standing so much as they do on wooden 

 floors, their feet have a tendency to become dry and 

 hard, but this is counteracted by a permanent stuffing 

 of tar and oakum, held in place by a leather pad. 

 Almost all the fire horses of Boston wear these pads, 

 and usually on the hind as well as on the fore feet. 

 In other cities, the same result is accomplished by 

 periodical stuffing of the feet with some one of the 

 many materials which horsemen use for this purpose. 



The worst trouble, however, arises from the con- 

 cussion produced in the foot by the hard paving-stones 

 of the city. This is bad enough for any horse, but 

 especially bad for the fire horse, because, owing to his 

 great weight, his galloping speed, and his heavy load, 

 he pounds his feet with tremendous force. Often a 

 pair of engine horses whose feet have begun to give 

 out are transferred to a suburban station, where, the 



