68 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



rings, is still continued with certain modifications, or, as they may be 

 called, improvements. Still, the admitted value of the artificial protection 

 is vitiated by the necessity for the use of nails as the means of fastening. 

 The feet of the horse are, therefore, placed at a disadvantage in com- 

 parison with the rest of the organism, in consequence of the unavoidable 

 application of artificial protection in the form of shoes which are attached 

 to them by nails driven through a considerable portion of the hoof. 



Added to the necessarily injurious consequences of shoeing are those 

 which arise from the hardness of the roads; and the two adverse con- 

 ditions will account for the failure, to a greater or lesser extent, of the 

 feet during some period of the horse's life, in spite of all the care exerted 

 for their preservation. 



Under exceptional circumstances it has not unnaturally been con- 

 sidered that the feet require exceptional treatment, and numerous devices 

 in the form of "stoppings" and hoof-dressings have been employed at 

 various times for the purpose, it is alleged, of keeping the feet in a 

 healthy condition. Of most of these appliances it may be said that the 

 feet may be very much better without them. Moisture is very necessary 

 for the maintenance of a healthy condition of the horn, and this is 

 naturally absorbed by the horn tubes, of which the hoof is composed, 

 when they are kept in a natural condition. But if the tubes are blocked 

 by sticky or greasy substances, they cease to be able to absorb the 

 moisture on which their elasticity depends. The hygienics of the foot 

 demands that the organ should be left, as far as may be, in a natural 

 state; the evils which are attendant on the application of shoes are in 

 some measure unavoidable, and under the present improved state of 

 the farrier's art they are reduced to a minimum. For the rest, it can 

 only be said that the less the horny covering of the foot is interfered 

 with the better. 



Next to the feet the legs, or, as they are termed, lower extremities, 

 as far as the knees and hocks, deserve consideration. These parts are 

 exposed more than other parts to contact with irritating grit and dust 

 and mud in the ordinary course of travel. Cracked or chapped heels 

 or " grease" and other eruptive diseases are the consequences of this 

 exposure, and some animals are susceptible in a high degree to influences 

 which would leave other less-susceptible subjects untouched. 



The skin over the whole of the body requires special attention in 

 the horse to keep it in a healthy state, and the difference between a 

 sensitive and insensitive skin has to be recognized in relation to a horse 

 as much as in the case of the human subject. 



Peculiarities of temperament have also to be taken into account as 



