HUNTERS 169 



from these conditions must be greatly increased, 

 and also the difficulty of affording relief. 



The feet must always be very carefully washed 

 out whenever the horse returns to the stable, no 

 dirt of any sort being allowed to lodge anywhere, 

 and this is where a careless groom so often fails. 

 The mud that has been picked up is too often 

 not entirely removed from about the frog, and 

 then gets saturated with ammonia from the wet 

 straw in the stable, and the frog soon begins to 

 get diseased. There was much to be said in 

 favour of the old fashion of stopping horses' 

 feet, which acted as a preventive of their 

 getting them filled with their own droppings, 

 which are very prejudicial, especially to the hind 

 feet ; if any stopping is used it had better be of 

 tow, steeped in a little tar, but a better plan, if 

 the feet are healthy, is merely to grease them 

 after washing. Once or twice a week all the 

 feet should be dressed over with an ointment 

 composed of honey, tar, and elder ointment, 

 mixed in equal proportions, which will be found 

 to keep the feet in excellent order, if regularly 

 attended to. 



The objection to stopping feet, and also to 

 bedding them on sawdust, or peat mould when 

 it has crumbled up into dust, is that they all 

 prevent air freely reaching the sole of the hoof, 

 and when this is the case the horn is apt to 

 become rather spongy and soft. When in this 

 state the horse is apt to flinch when treading 

 on sharp stones on a hard road. Bedding should 

 always be of some porous material as straw, fresh 

 fibrous peat, or wood shavings. These last make 

 an excellent bedding, though their appearance 

 is against them ; but it has the advantage that 



