No. 4.] THE HORSE. 123 



of their feet that they fall a prey to predatory animals. In 

 a state of nature where the horse has choice of soil the foot 

 wears down ; he instinctively knows that he must keep his 

 feet in proper shape. The blacksmith seldom understands 

 how to cut the hoof properly. He rarely cuts the toe down 

 enough ; he leaves it too long, and then he puts from a quar- 

 ter to half an inch of iron on, which causes trouble in nine 

 out often horses you see on the road. If you tell a l)lack- 

 smitli that the foot is too long he will shorten it by rasping 

 it around the toe. He ought not to do that. If he takes 

 the hoof up before him and looks at the bottom of it, and 

 begins to cut from the level of the heel, which ought to be 

 about level with the frog, he may be al)le to shorten the toe 

 of a horse from half an inch to an inch. That is the way 

 to give the horse his proper bearing, because the heel and 

 the frog should indicate the true level. Then the iron should 

 be put on with a view to maintain it as nature has indicated. 

 If there is a healthy frog — I won't say a withered one, all 

 shrivelled up not larger than your thumb, but a healthy de- 

 velopment of frog — the heel may be cut to the level of the 

 frog. 



Question. What makes cribbing horses? 



Mr. Russell. That is something that no man has ever 

 found out. It may be from indigestion or long idleness that 

 a horse gets a morbid habit of swallowing wind. That is not 

 done by mankind, except in political campaigns. I have 

 known a horse to recover from it by being kept in a stall 

 where he could not get hold of anything for the purpose of 

 drawing himself together and getting into the position in 

 which he sucks wind into his stomach. It is well to keep 

 rock salt and lump chalk within their reach. 



Question. What makes horses weave? 



Mr. Russell. That is generally some affection of the 

 brain, I think. When a horse weaves back and forth there 

 is somethino; wrong in his head. I have had one or two 

 horses that did it and they went to the bad. 



Question. Do you think it is a good plan to have a 

 window in front of a horse in the stall ? 



Mr. Russell. Yes, it is well enough if you have it shut. 

 You should not allow a draujxht of air to come throus-h on him. 



