148 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



When he had left me I went back to the horse 

 and found there was a sweUing at the shoulder 

 point. I looked carefully for signs of a thorn 

 but could find none. However I thought nothing 

 I could do could make the horse much worse so 

 I gave his shoulder a good rubbing with a dilution 

 of white oils, which I mixed with some sour beer. 

 Next morning the horse was lamer than ever and 

 almost flinched if you pointed at him. However 

 I examined him carefully, and thought I found 

 the head of a thorn. Finally I got it out — an 

 ugly thing quite an inch long, and in a couple of 

 days my horse was as sound as ever. 



It would perhaps be too sweeping a statement 

 to say that all cases of cracked heels and mud 

 fever are due to bad stable management. There 

 are cases on record where racehorses, under the 

 strain of much highly stimulating food and 

 severe work develop cracked heels, and some- 

 times horses are very troublesome in this respect, 

 and seem to have them in a chronic form. Re- 

 fractor, the winner of the Royal Hunt Cup was a 

 horse that was constantly suffering from cracked 

 heels, and I have seen him move on the hard 

 ground like the proverbial cat on hot bricks. 

 Yet he would be a daring man indeed who would 

 cast any aspersions on the stable management 

 of the late Mr. James Waugh. 



Col. Meysey Thompson holds that mud fever 

 — which is a kind of eczema — may be produced 

 by a sudden chill when the horse is in a state 

 of perspiration or by stomach trouble. I have 



