THE FOOT. 211 



to " go the pace," will always be more or less sub- 

 ject to diseased feet, quite unconnected with shoe- 

 ins: ; and ao^ainst such diseases there are but two 

 precautions on which much reliance can be placed : 

 First, let hunters be well prepared for their work, 

 and properly treated after it ; and, secondly, let 

 them have sufficient obliquity of pastern-joint (in 

 our opinion one of the most important points in 

 the whole structure of the horse) to break the force 

 of concussion ; which, together with over-excite- 

 ment of the vascular system, is the parent of that 

 irremediable disease of the navicular bone, formerly 

 called "founder;"' and by the wiseacres of old 

 times, " chest-founder,'" because, when labouring 

 under that disease, the muscles in that part waste, 

 from the inability of the suffering animal to exert 

 them. The posture of a horse in his stall, when 

 afflicted with this complaint, or fever in the feet, 

 is too characteristic to be mistaken. 



We have only one more remark on shoeing. In 

 following hounds across deep countries, hunters are 

 apt to strike a hinder-foot against a fore-foot, and 

 inflict a severe wound. There have, indeed, been 

 many instances of the total separation of the back 

 sinew by this often unavoidable act, particularly in 

 leaping brooks. It was formerly very generally 

 believed, that the blow was inflicted with the toe of 

 the hinder shoe, to obviate which, shoeing: smiths 

 were ordered, by hunting grooms, to let part of the 

 hoof protrude over the front of the shoe, but still 

 the evil continued. It was, however, asserted, in 

 the letters of Nimrod, that it was by the inside 



