STABLE MANAGEMENT. 55 



their hoofs are strengthened if the horses or mules stand 

 in a very clean stable, without dung or moisture, and if 



their stalls are floored or laid with oaken planks 



You must remember that the hoofs are renewed bv grow- 

 ing, and therefore after a certain number of days, or every 

 month, such care ought not to be wanting, by which 

 the weakness of nature is assisted and amended.' In an- 

 other place, speaking of the stable and stalls, he closely 

 follows Columella. ' A careful master must go frequently 

 into the stable. In the first instance, take care that the place 

 where they stand and lie be raised higher than the other 

 parts of the floor, and that it be compactly made — not of 

 soft wood, as frequently happens through unskilfulness or 

 negligence, but of solid, hard, lasting oak, well put to- 

 gether ; for this kind of wood hardens the horses' hoofs 

 like rocks. Moreover, the trench which is to receive the 

 urine ought to have a sink or drain under the ground to 

 convey it away, lest the urine overflowing touch the horses 

 feet.'^ 



' The hoofs of animals that are too small, grow larger, 

 or such as are worn, are repaired if you take,' etc. (Ani- 

 ma/il'u.s exigiue crescunt, vel attritce reparantur, etc.) 

 Numerous recipes are given to harden soft hoofs, espe- 

 cially the soles. Frequent mention is made of suffiision 

 in the feet, and casting the hoofs, doubtless through injuries 

 sustained from the want of shoeing. ' If perchance, from 

 the fatigue of a journey, a sufllision or defluxion shall 

 happen in his feet,'^ etc. ' If a horse or mule has cast his 

 hoof the cure is diflicult.'^ 'But such horses or mules 

 whose hoofs have become diseased by sufllision or spread- 



' Lib. i. cap. 56. ^ Lib. i. cap. 38. ^ Lib. ii. cap. 57. 



