BREAK-DOWN. 301 



pose you must not apply enough to cause fever, or to 

 blister, for that will defeat your object. After prop- 

 erly applying it, in time a little scurf may appear, but 

 so slight that a few days let-up and a wash or so will 

 clean it off. I have been told that iodine will dry up 

 the natural fluids of the joints. Long experience has 

 failed to show me this. AVhen I began working the 

 geldmg Clay, I found him knuckling and trembling on 

 all his legs. I iodined him so heavily for three years 

 that during that time he never was free of the scurf 

 raised by the drug. At the end of that period his 

 ankles were clean, sound and straight. I have used it 

 for twenty years, both as a cure and as a preventative, 

 and have never found it to injure an animal. A little 

 practice will show how to judiciously apply it. Begin 

 easy, and apply it without much rubbing, and be care- 

 ful not to use enough, or rub it in enough, to cause the 

 leg to become feverish. 



When a horse springs a curb with me I first get the 

 inflammation down in the usual way and then iodine 

 it severely. I then let him up in his work, but jog him 

 to keep him in as good condition as possible. I have 

 generally found curbs to yield to this treatment. A 

 curb is the least objectionable form of undsoundness. 

 I do not believe that what we usually call a ''crooked" 

 or "curby-shaped" hock is any more liable to develop 

 actual curbs than a perfectly straight one. At least, 

 in my experience I have found as many faultlessly 

 shaped hocks to throw out curbs as the "crooked" 

 ones. Manzanita has an elegantly shaped leg and per- 

 fect hock, but she threw out a curb as a two-year-old. 

 I treated her with iodine, kept on working her, gave 



