304 ON THE TREATMENT OF HORSES' FEET, 



gallops and sweats, but occasionally to sweat three 

 times a fortnight, and not unfrequently, in the height 

 of summer — in the months of July and August, — 

 when most of our training and running grounds in the 

 south may be said to be very little better (in regard to 

 the hardness of their surfaces) than turnpike roads. 

 From the unavoidable necessity there is for keeping 

 these horses almost constantly in strong work on 

 such hard ground, the feet of some of them become 

 heated and inflamed, — so much so, that it is not un- 

 common for the groom now and then to observe a 

 horse in the string, when walking away first from the 

 stable (perhaps the morning after sweating) to go 

 a little stiff and feeling in his fore feet. The groom 

 (if he is competent) on observing this, takes the 

 earliest opportunity of recommending the owner to 

 put the horse out of work for a short time, and by 

 bleeding and giving him physic and rest, the inflamma- 

 tion in his feet subsides ; and to any but a very accu- 

 rate observer he will then appear to go sound. The 

 owner, acting upon the hint given him by the training 

 groom, will probably sell the horse. Should he not 

 be disposed of, he is, of course, again put into training ; 

 and the same cause (strong work) very soon pro- 

 duces the same effect, and the horse at last becomes 

 permanently diseased in his fore feet. He is seen by 

 the groom to go very feeling in them in his walk ; 

 and in his gallops and sweats, he goes stiff and short 

 in his stride. 



The groom, now finding he cannot get the length 



