PRACTICAL SHOEING 265 



sary if the feet are well washed twice a day, and 

 where a good water-hose is handy to play on the 

 legs and feet ; stuffing feet seems wholly unneces- 

 sary in cases where the horse is sound. But dry 

 the feet, and if you bandage them do not leave 

 the bandages on for many hours at a time, thereby 

 doing more harm than good. And rub the legs 

 with both your hands when you take the bandages 

 off Fold them up neatly, ready for future use. 

 All these little acts of kindness help to make you 

 a master of stable work, and an owner who will 

 not allow a groom to harbour any unpleasant 

 smell in your stable. 



These methods just laid down help to en- 

 courage a good shoeing-smith to take a pride in 

 keeping your horses sound by shoeing horses 

 well that are worthy of being well shod. You 

 may be sure, indeed, that in stables where 

 Condy's fluid or Jay's disinfectant is never used 

 except when the vet insists on sanitary grounds 

 — he is called in when you have lamed your 

 horse through gross neglect of common-sense 

 and sanitary rules — you may be sure, I repeat, 

 that in ill-kept stables, unsweetened and badly 

 ventilated, the feet are neglected as much as the 

 grooming and the feeding, and the horse goes 

 wrong through all-round mismanagement. 



The concave-seated shoe, the hunting shoe, 

 the French shoe, the half-moon shoe, the bar 

 shoe, the pattern, the leather sole are all referred 

 to by "Stonehenge" in an exhaustive chapter. 

 But for ordinary hunting I recommend the 

 ordinary flat shoe. 



