102 PREYENTION OF CUTTING. 



qiiickly, and the speed be long continued. It arises from a 

 number of causes, two or more of whicb may act in association. 

 It may arise from weakness. Horses having been recently 

 affected with disease of a severe character, if put to work before 

 the enfeebled frame has fully recovered its pristine vigour, are 

 extremely liable to strike one limb against the other, and cut 

 themselves in consequence. Cuttmg may also arise from bad 

 conformation of the limbs. " Cow hocked" horses are prone to 

 this evil. It may also arise, — as it very frequently does, — from 

 bad shoeing, and bad management of the feet. 



" Various devices," says Mr. Miles, " have been at different 

 times suggested as a remedy for the evil ; but as each horse has 

 his own mode of doing it, much difficulty is often experienced 

 in hitting upon the right one. I have frequently solved the 

 difficulty by placing a boot, or a piece of cloth covered with 

 damp pipe clay, over the injured part, and then causing the 

 horse to be trotted along the road, and he generally returns 

 vsdth some of the pipe clay adhering to the offending portion of 

 the opposite foot or shoe, as the case may be, pointing out 

 pretty clearly the part to be lessened or removed. The 

 adoption of this simple plan has saved many a horse from 

 months of torture, arising from ill-contrived shoes and mis- 

 applied remedies." 



The plan, as detailed above, for detecting the part inflicting 

 the wound upon the opposite limb, is as simple, and as direct, 

 as it can well be ; but if the fault arises from general debility 

 of the system, or from bad conformation of the limbs, attention 

 to shoeing may to some extent palliate the evil in both instances. 

 In the former case, the cutting will in all probability disappear 

 as the animal gains strength; while in the latter instances, a 

 permanent cure may be out of the question. I know horses 

 which cut both with the fore and hind feet, and which up to 



