AND ON SHOEING. 300 



grow, but the detached parts of tlie frog may be re- 

 moved, so that, ^\•llen a horse is taken to Avork in the 

 spring, his feet may be put in [)roper form to have the 

 short shoes applied. 



The treatment necessary to be adopted in the care of 

 such liorses' feet when they are kept in the stables, is 

 a subject to which grooms should pay the strictest at- 

 tention. 



Horses that have strong feet, require to have them 

 more relaxed by the application of water, than those 

 which have weak feet ; the latter require more the ap- 

 plication of ointment to the foot to promote growth, 

 and to keep their hoofs tough. 



Country plate horses that have strong feet, and that 

 are mostly in strong work in the summer, (at which 

 season it is that training as well as running grounds 

 are very hard,) are often travelling on hot dry roads ; 

 and unless moisture be sufficiently and properly ap- 

 plied to their fore-feet, much of the natural expansion 

 and elastic parts of their heels and quarters are de- 

 stroyed. Those parts become dry, hard, and brittle, 

 and the natural consequence is, that greater concussion 

 takes place in the feet of horses in this state, when they 

 are going at a rapid pace, as in running heats of long 

 lengths in light plates on a hard course than there 

 would otherwise be, were their feet in a more elastic 

 state. 



To apply moisture to the feet of horses, the patent 

 sponge water boots have been strongly recommended. 

 They are certainly very useful, and it is probable the 



i. 



