58 HORSES AND HOUKDS. 



When removed, 1 would recommend the use of salt Tj^ater ban- 

 dages to strengthen the legs ; but these must not remain on 

 during the night, and should be kept constantly moist whilst in 

 use. We now come to the ringbone, which, upon its first ap- 

 pearance, may be reduced by mercurial charges, or blister oint- 

 ment ; but if neglected is a sure cause of lameness. 



Diseases of the feet are common, and require to be treated 

 by a clever veterinary surgeon, or incurable lameness will 

 follow. 1 bought a horse once with only three hoofs,^t least 

 one was in embryo ; he was a capital hunter, but from fever in 

 one of his feet the hoof had sloughed off, and a new one had 

 begun growing. In this state I bought him at a low price, and 

 with rest and careful treatment, in about a twelvemonth the 

 hoof had grown nearly to the size of the others, and he carried 

 me well in the hunting-field for some years afterwards, without 

 being in the least lame. Windgalls are also very common, the 

 result of the tendons being overstrained ; to disperse these, 

 when not very bad, rest and bandages will often sufiace, but in 

 worse cases, blister ointment or mercurial charges must be 

 employed. Rest, after all, is the chief restorative, and the 

 horse should have a holiday in the summer season, by which, 

 and the application of salt water bandages, they will not pro- 

 bably return. Curbs are caused by a strain of the back tendon 

 of the hind leg, and appear just below the hock-joint ; they will 

 give way to the mercurial charge, or blister ointment, if taken 

 in time ; and to prevent their re-appearance a slight firing is, I 

 think, the best application. 



The irons should be used very lightly, so that no scar shall 

 afterwards appear. ITie scoring which horses sometimes expe- 

 rience at the hands of ignorant or unpractised professors, is not 

 only cruel, but perfectly unnecessary, and there is no occasion 

 ■for those _ transverse marks, which only add to the sufferings 

 of the animal, and disfigure him also ever afterwards ; the iron 

 should run in an oblique direction down the leg, ivith the 

 sinews, and not across them. It was the fashion formerly, with 

 many sporting men, to fire their horses before they required it, 

 when any apparent weakness existed, acting, I suppose, upon 

 the well-known adage, that "prevention is better than cure." 

 My father was of this opinion, and once took advantage of my 

 absence from home, after the hunting season, to operate upon 

 two young horses I had lately purchased, much to my annoy- 

 ance. They were perfectly sound and clean about their sinews, 

 but the governor taking it into his head that they were not 

 over strong on their pins, had them down, and a fool of a farrier 



