AND HOW TO XEEP IT SOUND. 41 



as the sudden chill at such a time would most likely bring on 

 fever of the feet. The early morning suggests itself as the 

 fitting time for the employment of this remedy, when the 

 horse is nearly certain of having been at rest for many hours. 



Stopping the feet at night is a very beneficial custom ; and 

 fresh cow-dung is perhaps as good a thing as can be employed 

 for the purpose ; it retains its moisture longer than clay, 

 which is often used, and when dry is less hard to the feet. 

 The space within the shoe, between the sole and the ground, 

 being thus filled with an elastic mass, affords an even support 

 to the whole under-surface of the sole, resembling in some 

 degree v/hat the unshod foot receives from soft ground ; and 

 I believe the foot derives as much benefit from this slight, 

 but even support, while the horse is at rest, as it does from 

 the softening effect of the moisture upon the horn. The feai 

 of causing thrushes by the frequent use of wet stopping is 

 very much exaggerated ; for where the disease is produced 

 by moisture once, it is produced by bad shoeing a thousand 

 times : indeed, it is one of the commonest effects of the re- 

 straint to the foot of bad shoeing, and never occurs, under 

 any circumstances, where the foot is left free to expand by 

 good shoeing. The surest and never-failing cure for thrushes, 

 is " one-sided nailing," — in other words, permitting the fool 

 to expand. I have cured two bad cases of thrushes of long 

 duration, by making the horses stand for four months upon 

 wet sawdust without shoes. The sawdust was not merely 

 damp, but saturated with water ; — and the horses remained 

 upon it all day, but were removed at night into a dry place 

 to sleep. Neither the long-continued application of exces- 

 sive moisture nor the gloomy predictions of friends could 

 prevent the thrushes from getting well, when the foot was 

 thus permitted to expand freely to the weight of the horse. 



I may observe here, that this kind of treatment is far pre- 

 ferable to turning horses out either to grass or straw-yard, 

 and should always be substituted for it, whenever from any 

 cause they may require rest. 



Of course the continued use of wet sawdust will only bo 

 needed where the feet are much amiss ; but I believe that 

 every horse which is laid up with a view of obtaining perfect 

 rest for him, will be benefited by standing without shoes 

 upon it for two or three hours out of every twenty-four ; — un- 

 less, indeed, he should happen to have weak flat feet ; in which 

 case 1 would shoe him with leather. The soles of such feet 

 being, for the most part, already too thin, would be rendered 



