314 CARE OF THE HOOF. 



the horse should be re-shod. The stall should be kept clean 

 and the foot itself moist. The straw should be dry and 

 renewed daily, and the hoofs picked out and washed everyi 

 morning. This will prevent thrush in the hind-feet. The 

 front-feet gain sufficient moisture from the daily washing to^ 

 preserve their elasticity, and thus permit of the horny capsule 

 yielding when weight is thrown on the hoof. To prevent the 

 hoofs becoming dry, the entire surface may afterwards be 

 smeared with hoof ointment. This prevents loss of moisture, 

 and, in cases where daily washing is impossible, some variety 

 of hoof dressing is advisable. Only a small quantity of 

 the ointment is necessary, but the entire hoof, especially 

 the perioplic ring, frog, and horny sole, should be covered. 

 Vaseline and lanoline are very good dressings, the latter being 

 somewhat expensive. • One of the chief means of securing a 

 healthy hoof is plenty of exercise. This increases local circula- 

 tion and growth of horn, for which reason horses in regular 

 work usually have better hoofs than those much confined to 

 the stable. 



Note. — Zschokke, Smith, and Dominik have all made experi- 

 ments on the action of hoof ointments. Zschokke considers 

 they diminish absorption and evaporation, and are most effectual 

 where these processes go on most actively, viz., in the frog and 

 in the sole. They have little effect on the horn wall. Vase- 

 line and lanoline produce the best results, glycerine tends to 

 dry the hoof. 



Apart from this indirect action no hoof ointment appears to 

 have much effect in preserving the horn. Vaseline, applied to 

 freshly trimmed soles and frogs, may prevent rapid drying of 

 the exposed horn and exclude dirt or irritant Huids. Its 

 action principally depends on its retarding the evaporation of 

 water previously absorbed ; it has little effect on the wall, 

 and its effects on the sole and frog are increased by previous 

 cleansing. An ideal hoof dressing should not chemically alter 

 the horn, should keep well, be impervious to moisture, exercise 

 a disinfectant action, and be cheap. According to Veterinary- 

 Major Fred. Smith (see " The Chemistry of the Hoof of the 

 Horse," Veterinary Journal, 1887, page 373), the horn very 

 readily loses water, fresh wall horn losing in twenty-four hours 

 from 1-92 to 2*45 per cent., and in five days from 4-36 to 



