96 HORSE AND MAN. 



He then proceeds to endorse a statement made 

 by another authority, who boldly says that if these 

 applications were made daily and not occasionally, 

 the horse would not in six months' time have enough 

 sound horn left in the hoof to hold a nail. 



The injury which is done to horses by the well- 

 meant but reckless treatment of their hoofs by 

 ignorant and therefore conceited men is so great, 

 that no groom or stableman ought to be allowed 

 even to possess a hoof-ointment, or * oils,' or any 

 similar preparation, or to apply anything to the 

 hoof which he has not received from the veterinary 

 surgeon whom his master employs, and in the appli- 

 cation of which he does not strictly follow the 

 surgeon's orders. 



It is necessary that the rule against the posses- 

 sion of drugs or applications of any nature should 

 be enforced most rigidly, and that the slightest 

 infringement of this rule should be visited by instant 

 dismissal and forfeiture of wages, without the hope 

 of forgiveness or of being reinstated at any future 

 time. No other plan is of the slightest avail, and 

 every servant who is employed about the horse in 

 any capacity should be compelled to sign a clause to 

 that effect before he is engaged. 



Not only do the men apply remedies to the 

 hoof, but they procure and administer drugs of 



