82 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



and crust. The old idea of " thinning " the sole, and 

 keeping the feet soft by stoppings of cowdung and clay,, 

 is an antiquated fallacy that hardly requires being 

 combatted in the present day. In India, especially, we 

 require the feet to be as hard and tough as possible, 

 so that the horse may neither flinch, nor go short over 

 hard and broken ground, nor become lame if he casts 

 shoe, and has to proceed for a few miles bare-foot. 

 Water applied to the feet renders them soft and weak, 

 on account of the capillary attraction exerted by the 

 fibres of the horn on any liquid with which it may 

 come in contact. It is a significant fact that the drier 

 the climate is, in which horses are bred and reared, the 

 stronger and better able to stand work will their feet be. 



No benefit is obtained by applying hoof ointment 

 to the crust, unless, perhaps, to those parts from which 

 the hard and varnished covering of the wall may 

 have been rasped away by a careless or ignorant shoeing 

 smith. The growth of the wall of the hoof can alone 

 be hastened by stimulating the coronet which secretes 

 it ; hence, any hoof ointment, used as such, is powerless 

 to effect this end. 



In the preceding chapters I have dwelt upon the 

 evils of washing the legs of the horse ; hence I need 

 not further allude to the subject, beyond saying that 

 if the animal returns to his stable with his legs wet, 

 or covered with mud, they should be dried by means 

 of the scraper, wisp, and rubber, as the case may be, 

 and then hand-rubbed. 



One should avoid hand-rubbing the legs when they 

 are wet, as doing so will tend to remove the hair. 



