158 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



and many of our horses are shod now with as 

 bad shoes as in the days of the Conqueror. 



FROSTING OR ROUGHINa THE HORSE. 



Many systems have of late years been adopted 

 to prevent the horse slipping in frosty weather. 

 The old fashioned way of turning up the heels, is 

 open to grave objections ; the horse is very apt 

 to cut its coronet by treading one foot on the 

 other, and it is very uncomfortable for the animal 

 to stand with high heels and the constant removal 

 of the shoes tears the foot to pieces. Screw calk- 

 ings have been largely used and are very useful, 

 but sometimes thej^ break off; then the shoe 

 must be taken off before another screw stud can 

 be put in. During the last few years the anti- 

 concussion pad has been largely used. Mr. Martin- 

 gale, of 158, Piccadilly, has invented a new pad 

 with sponge India rubber inside. These pads 

 are excellent to travel horses on snow, for the}^ 

 entirely prevent balling, consequently there will 

 be many less cases of severe sprains during a 

 deep snow. They are extremely useful for exer- 

 cising horses ; and grooms with them in their 

 horses' shoes, will be able to give their horses 

 work in a storm; and I am informed that Sir 

 Eache Cunard used them last season (1882) to 

 hunt in the snow with great success. 



Indeed, Mr. Martingale and Mr. Black well 

 seem to vie with each other in substituting India 

 rubber for iron and stiff leather straps, much to 

 the comfort of the poor horse. 



