76 Stable Management. 



warm indoors, if care is taken of them out, are more healthy 

 on the whole than those kept cool, and, as a consequence 

 of their hardiness, as it is called, more exposed to the 

 weather when out. If kept warm, they must assuredly be 

 taken care of, but in that case they are healthy enough ; 

 and consequently I arrive at the conclusion that it is not 

 the warm stable, but the neglect out of it, which produces 

 disease. If, therefore, horses are to be thus exposed, they 

 had better be kept cool, as in hack livery stables ; but if 

 not, there is no harm in proper warmth when united with 

 cleanliness and caution out of doors. 



Management of the Feet. 



This department of -stable management is often sadly 

 neglected by the groom, who is particular enough in every 

 other respect ; but if his master is only a judge of skin 

 and condition, he is too apt to leave the feet to take care 

 of themselves. 



An examination of the shoes should be carefully made 

 every morning when the horse comes in from exercise ; 

 and if they are at all loose, or the clenches are too high, 

 or the shoes are worn out, they should be renewed or re- 

 moved at once. 



The feet should be examined every night as the last 

 operation, to ensure freedom from stones, stubs, nails, 

 &c., which may have been gathered during the day, as 

 well as to see to the safety of the shoes, and general con- 

 dition of the hoofs. In no case where the feet are sound 

 and carefully preserved against the mutilations of the 

 shoeing-smith, will that antiquated nuisance, known as 

 the stopping-box, be required. Healthy horn secretes 

 the necessary moisture, which is not water, but a prin- 

 ciple which repels it under all ordinary circumstances. 

 The so-called dry and hard hoofs are those which are 

 shamefully mutilated and reduced in shoeing \ while 

 those that are brittle, shelly, fleshy, and deformed are so 

 by reason of breed or disease. They do not come within 

 the nomenclature of sound structures, requiring special 

 attention both in shoeing and in the stable. In all such 



