THE BODY AND LIMBS. 29 



mate too much inwards, or otherwise when the toes are 

 directed too much outwards, are either of them a serious 

 evil. Cutting is, however, frequently brought on by debiUty 

 and emaciation ; hence lean, jaded, and tired horses, will do 

 it at times, which under other circumstances will go free and 

 not "'interfere.'' For the same reasons, many horses cut 

 before they become strong and furnished that never do it 

 afterwards. 



T\\efeet are next to be considered, and much more fuss 

 was formerly made about the foot than is thought necessary 

 at present. A foot, either too large or too small, is defec- 

 tive. The mule-footed blood-horse is in this respect as 

 faulty as the heavy animal reared on the fens of Lincoln- 

 shire. The horn of the large-footed horse is weak, and by 

 battering upon hard roads, or harder stones, generally be- 

 comes, before he has been long at work, what is called 

 pumiced. Small feet may be natural, but the horn is apt 

 to become too hard and unyielding. They are more Hable 

 to be found too small than too large ; though in horses bred 

 in low marshy situations, as Lincolnshire and Cambridge- 

 shire, the hoofs are often of a larger size than ordinary ; 

 and however convenient this may prove to the animal while 

 moving on the quaggy surface of these marshy districts, 

 they are very unfit for speedy and light movements in more 

 dry situations. Such horses go heavily, and stumble ; and 

 as the horn of which these enormous feet are formed is 

 always weak, so, by use on hard roads, the anterior or front 

 part falls in, and the sole, or under surface, projects out- 

 ward, reducing it, at last, from a concave to a convex figure : 

 such feet are then called pumiced. A foot should be of a 

 proper obliquity ; display a sufficient expansion at the heels, 

 and have a due quantity, not a superabundance, of horn, 

 with a healthy frog. When the foot shows a deficiency of 

 horn, the heels, quarters, and soles must, of necessity, be 

 weak, and tenderness in going prove the consequence. 



The heels should be particularly attended to ; they must 

 be of a fair width, and the frog firm, yet pliable. Thrushes 

 are always strong objections to a horse, inasmuch as the 

 animal having them is not safe to ride, and the thrushes 

 themselves necessitate medical treatment. But when the 

 complaint accompanies a ibot already smaller than it was 



