77 



to lameness. It is not very easy without minute 

 scrutiny, to discover a sand-crack, where an attempt 

 is made to conceal it : a month's run in marshy 

 grounds will often make it close up, till the 

 horse is again brought to his work on the hard 

 road : and it is not difficult to cover the interstice 

 superficially with tar and tallow, so as to hide it 

 from a common observer. Any shining, oily ap- 

 pearance about the hoofs should immediately 

 awaken a suspicion of the existence of cracks. 



A prominent ring round the hoof, has been 

 frequently mentioned to me as a symptom of 

 recent inflammation ; but I believe it to be a falla- 

 cious one ; for I have often noticed such marks in 

 my own horses^ when I have had them long enough 

 for the entire hoof to have become renewed from 

 the coronet, and yet they have never been in the 

 least degree lame. Where, however, the outward 

 line of the hoof marking its inclination to the plane 

 of the shoe is irregular, instead of being perfectly 

 straight, as I have attempted to describe it in 

 this profile, it marks what is called a 

 "shelly" foot, from its resemblance /C/^~^ 



to the uneven character of an oyster ^Z^—^ 

 shell, and this is decidedly bad. 



The sole of the foot should be subjected to still 

 closer examination. In its healthy and natural 



