90 HORSES AND ROADS. 



horse resting with the toe of one foot, and bearing 

 with the heel of the shoe of that foot (especially 

 should the shoe be calked) upon the coronet of the 

 opposite one. Hence unshod horses can with diffi- 

 culty get quittor, neither do they. An unshod horse 

 ' feels his feet,' and knows what he is doing with 

 them ; so he scarcely knows what it is to overreach 

 himself; and even if he does such a thing, no evil 

 consequences are ever noticed, because the horn 

 cannot inflict injury like iron. For sandcrack 

 and seedy toe there are no names in the above-cited 

 countries, and no one can bring the natives to 

 understand that such diseases exist. If you suggest 

 corns to them they laugh in your face, and no 

 wonder. 



Mr. Dalziel says : ' Corns on the human foot are 

 practically known to most people, being one of the 

 unpleasant and unnecessary attendants on civilisa- 

 tion, for they came into fashion with boots and shoes. 

 So with corns on the foot of the horse.' Mayhew 

 says : ' Spavin, splint, or ringbone are no more the 

 legitimate consequences of equine existence than 

 noads and anchylosis are the natural inheritance of 

 human beings.' By illegitimate treatment ninety- 

 nine hundredths of the diseases of the feet and legs 

 are caused — shoeing being the most to blame. 



