THE HUNTER AT HOME. 173 



the horse's foot was one cause of this disease, and a very 

 far-fetched theory it was. Although all horses had their 

 soles pared, the disease flourished. Time will show 

 whether treatment the reverse of this will ward off the 

 evil. No shoeing will make a horse go sound who is 

 lame with navicular. " Nerving" will do so of course, but 

 at a great risk. A nerved horse will bang his foot about 

 until he literally knocks it to pieces, breaks some internal 

 bone, or ruptures some important organ. Also, if he 

 picks up a nail, or experiences any similar accident, he 

 cannot inform you of the fact by going lame, and any 

 amount of mischief may ensue. Also nerved horses are 

 neither safe nor pleasant to ride, and there is an ever- 

 present chance of their losing the nerved foot altogether, 

 I knew a hunter, and a capital one was he, who hunted for 

 five seasons with one foot nerved ; but latterly the nerve 

 must have reunited, as he used to be lame. His end was 

 rupture of the perforans tendon, and death, of course. 



Horses with navicular disease are always getting worse, 

 slowly perhaps, but surely. If I had such a one, and he 

 were a good horse, I should work him as long as I could, 

 and then shoot him. The very small sum for which a 

 lame horse can be sold ought not to weigh, even with 

 the poorest owner, against the misery to which the poor 

 animal is condemned by being sold to the only sort of 

 person who buys lame horses. Another very common 

 ailment among hunters is ossification of the lateral 

 cartilages. This is said to be caused sometimes by a 

 sprain, but I think it is more commonly the result of bad 

 shoeing. The effect is simply to turn the cartilage of 

 the heel into bone. While the change is progressing 

 the horse is generally lame. When it is perfected, the 

 horse may be sound, but he will always go in a stilty 



