270 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



polishing them with sand-paper, oils them with a little sweet 

 oil. This includes all that is to be done. 



"We have devoted more space to these branches of our sub- 

 ject than, at first, it was our intention to do. To this we 

 have been impelled by the considerations that the general 

 health of the horse is so intimately connected with the con- 

 dition of the teeth, and that so little account is commonly 

 taken of this fact by horsemen. Especially are they apt to 

 overlook the injuries sometimes sustained by the colt from 

 the operations of teething and shedding. If the stock-raiser 

 will reflect for a moment upon the suffering entailed upon 

 the child by the first of these processes, and how often dis- 

 ease and death result from it, and then consider how much 

 the experience of his young colts may resemble this case in 

 the human subject, it would pretty surely be of material ad- 

 vantage to his growing stock. Poor, feeble colts, with rough 

 hair, thin flanks, staggering gait, and loss of appetite, would 

 be cared for with better, because more intelligent, regard to 

 their real wants. 



We have recommended the following course to be pursued 

 on stock farms, and the system can be carried out quite as 

 easily on a smaller scale. In the pasture, or in the stable- 

 yard, let there be placed long troughs, and salt kept con- 

 stantly in them, or at least placed in them once a week. 

 Wood ashes should be mingled with the salt, and together 

 they will correct any tendency to indigestion in nearly all 

 instances. Sulphur should be used abundantly at the same 

 time; for its properties as an alterative are unrivaled. 



STUMP-SUCKING, CRIB-BITING, AND WIND-SUCKING. 



The strange habit known as " stump-sucking," which some 

 horses have, is not well understood. We have seen and ex- 

 amined a great many animals that were addicted to it, es- 

 pecially colts, but must acknowledge that we know not to 

 what cause to refer it with positiveness. It is said to be 

 more common in the ^NTorthern States than at the South, and 



.A 



