166 UNASKED ADVICE. 



cannot be desirable. Boots almost always cut tlie hind 

 fetlock^ and lame tlie liorse until they are taken off. If 

 they extend a little above the fetlock joint,, and fasten 

 with two or more buckles^ they will be less likely to do 

 this sort of damage, as the lower fastening may be looser 

 than it otherwise could. While on this subject, over- 

 reaches may as well be considered. With the inside edge 

 of the hind shoe bevelled well off, or with a Charlier shoe 

 let well in, they ought not to occur, in the form of a cut 

 at least, though the blow will be the same, and a bruised 

 heel the result. Still, a blow is better than a cut. I 

 have, oddly enough, had only two overreach cuts in the 

 last six seasons ; but this is good luck, and I may have 

 two more the next two days that I hunt. One of these 

 was done with the common shoe; the other with a 

 Charlier shoe badly put on, not let in, and left sharp at 

 the inside edge. I need hardly say that I saw this last 

 article for the first time after the accident, owing to 

 uncontrollable circumstances. An overreach high up, 

 above the heel in fact, is a case for professional advice ; 

 but the common can be well treated at home by frequent 

 bathing with arnica and water ; a very loose flap of skin 

 may be cut off. These mishaps seldom lame the horse, 

 so he can do his exercise while the case progresses — a 

 great point, as idleness in the season is most prejudicial 

 to a hunter^s future well doing. Do not hunt him again 

 before the cut is healed, as another blow on the bad place 

 would make a serious affair of what should be com- 

 paratively a trifling one — at all events, a business of ten 

 days, say. An overreach on the sinew is beyond home 

 treatment, as the cut if deep will require to be sewn up, 

 and I never yet saw a groom who could be trusted to do 

 that sort of thing. 



