290 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



that you have a horse with contracted and hardened 

 hoofs, scaly and brittle, that you must moisten and soak 

 out, do not waste your money on " patent stuffing " 

 and costly ''dressing" for the feet, but take your 

 basket and go down into the swamp, and gather a 

 bushel or two of swamp-moss. Now take boards, and 

 make a box some three feet long by two feet wide, 

 and six inches in depth. Fill this box with moss well 

 moistened with water, and so tie your horse that he will 

 stand with his fore-feet amid the moss. Do not allow 

 him to stand more than two or three hours at a time 

 thus, lest the chemical action of the moss should be too 

 rapid and strong. Watch its influence on his feet, and 

 do as your judgment decides. In this way the hardest 

 and flintiest foot can be rendered soft and yielding 

 after only a few days of treatment. It is a valuable 

 recipe for such ills. 



The publishers' announcement warns me that my 

 manuscript has reached the desired bulk, and that this 

 section of the work must be drawn to a close. My 

 object in writing it has been to quicken thought, and 

 start discussion. Viewed only in this light is it satis- 

 factory even to myself The conclusion which my 

 mind has reached, after all my reading and investiga- 

 tion touching the horse's foot, may be summed up in a 

 few brief maxims. Never touch the bars, frog, or sole of 

 the horse's foot with a knife, or rasp. Shoe with light, 

 thin shoes, that allow the sole, bars, and frog to be 

 brought in contact with the ground, and thus bear their 



