172 UNASKED ADVICE. 



sometimes the contrary. If tliey do not lame the horse, 

 they are best let alone. They are often the result of 

 indiscriminate blistering. A leg blistered while in- 

 flammation still exists in it is very likely to be a per- 

 manent blemish in this way. At the same time they (big 

 legs) sometimes become fine of their own accord, after 

 being out of shape for perhaps two seasons ; but in such 

 cases there has been no bony deposit. Bony enlarge- 

 ments of anything like long standing are best let alone, 

 the remedy being often worse than the disease. If the 

 horse is absolutely lame by them, that is another thing 

 altogether ; but then professional advice will be advisable. 

 Navicular disease is an affliction common to all horses, 

 and it will be so as long as the frog, which is meant to 

 protect the navicular bone, is pared away, or allowed to 

 diminish of its own accord, which it will do when the 

 foot is improperly treated and shod. Horses with weak 

 feet, and who have alwaj^s large frogs, are least liable to 

 the disease. I am told that one of the most eminent of 

 our veterinary surgeons (Mr. Stanley, of Leamington) 

 has stated it to be his conviction that horses shod It la 

 Charlier will never have navicular disease, and certainly 

 they ought to have the best possible chance of avoiding 

 it. When the disease exists it is perhaps less prejudicial 

 to a hunter than to any other horse, as his work is on 

 soft ground, and I have known several horses hunt for 

 season after season without it. It is not to be cured, I 

 firmly believe, after it is once well established. The 

 horse who suff'ers from it almost always points his toe in 

 the stable, in a manner that must be familiar to every 

 one. He also goes on his toe as much as possible, 

 thereby wearing away the front of his shoe. The old- 

 fashioned notion was that neglecting to pare the sole of 



