THE SUxAIMERING OF HUNTERS. 143 



mechanical disadvantages of too long pasterns, where 

 actual change from injury has not taken place, by 

 shortening the toe and lowering it, and bringing the 

 heel of tlie shoe an inch or more further back, the 

 enlargement will soon disappear— in a very few 

 weeks. But a horse could not hunt with such a shoe, 

 so that it is no use to remove a laudable, serviceable 

 enlargement which stands in place of a condition we 

 cannot call to our aid. In short, we ought never to 

 attempt to remove an enlargement that is doing real 

 service, unless we are in a position to exchange it 

 for more desirable conditions, or, in other words, do 

 not remove a stay unless you can alter the super- 

 structure so that it does not require the stay, or 

 unless you can supply a stay which will act as well 

 as the one you remove. 



We have already said that at the end of a hunting 

 season the bones and joints and the lubricating 

 apparatus are the parts which most frequently 

 require treatment. Next to these we might 

 have ventured to assert that the hypertrophies 

 or enlargements about the pasterns, fetlocks, 

 and back tendons are the most common defects 

 which the hunting man has now to deal with. In 

 most of these cases it will be found that the bearing 

 surface of the foot has been defective, either from 

 bad shoeing or neglect of shoeing. During the 

 season the hunting man cannot be too careful in 

 seeing that the fore feet especially are regularly 

 shod, and noticing the least deviation of the aspects 



