428 WEAKNESS OP THE FOOT. 



proi^oi-tion to the coronet ; and the whole of the foot is generally, but not 

 always, larger than it should be. 



When the foot is lifted, it -will often present a round and circular 

 appearance, with a fulness of frog that would mislead the inexperienced, 

 and indeed be considered as almost the perfection of structui'e ; but, being 

 examined more closely, many glaring defects 'vnll be seen. The sole is 

 flat, and the smith, finds that it will bear little or no paring. The bars are 

 small in size. They are not cut away by the smith, but they can be 

 scarcely said to have any existence. The heels are low, so low that the 

 very coronet seems almost to touch the ground ; and the crust, if examined, 

 appears scarcely tliick enough to hold the nails. 



Horses with these feet can never stand much work. They will be 

 subject to corns, to bruises of the sole, to convexity of the sole, to punc- 

 tures in nailing, to breaking away of the crust, to inflammation of the 

 foot, and to sprain and injury of the pastern, and the fetlock, and the flexor 

 tendon. 



These feet admit of little improvement. Shoeing as seldom as may be, 

 and with a light and yet concave web and leather soles : little or no paring 

 at the time of shoeiog, and as little violent work as possible, and especially 

 on rough roads, may protract for a long period the evil day, but he who 

 buys a horse with these feet will sooner or later have cause to repent his 

 bargain. 



Management of the Feet. — This is a part of stable management that is 

 often sadly neglected by the carter and groom. The feet should be carefully 

 examined every morning, for the shoes may be loose, and the horse would 

 have been stopped in the middle of liis work ; or the clenches may be 

 raised, and endanger the wounding of his legs ; or the shoe may begin to 

 press upon the sole or the heel, and bruises of the sole, or corn, may be 

 the i-esult ; and, the horse having stood so long in the stable, every little 

 increase of heat in the foot, or lameness, will be more readily detected, 

 and serious disease may often be prevented. 



When the liorse comes in at night, and after the harness has been taken 

 off and stowed away, the heels should be well brushed out. Hand-rub- 

 bing will be preferable to washing, especially in the agricultural horse, 

 whose heels, covered with long hair, can scarcely be di'ied again. If the 

 dirt is suffered to accumulate in that long haii', the heels will become sore, 

 and grease will follow ; and if the heels are washed, and particularly during 

 the winter, grease will result from the coldness occasioned by the slow 

 evaporation of the moisture. The feet should be stopped — even the feet 

 of the farmer's horse, if he remains in the stable. Very little clay should 

 be used in the stopping, for it will get hard and press upon the sole. Cow- 

 dung is the best stopping to preserve the feet cool and elastic ; but, before 

 the stopping is applied, the picker should be run round the whole of the 

 foot, between the shoe and the sole, in order to detect any stone that may 

 have insinuated itself there, or a wound on any other part of the sole. 

 For the hackney and hunter, stopping is indispensable. After several 

 days' hard work, it will afford very great relief to take the shoes off", having 

 put plenty of litter under the horse, or to tui-n him, if possible, into a 

 loose-box ; and the shoes of every horse, whether hardly worked or not, 

 should be removed or changed once in every thi^ee weeks. 



