The Stable Handbook 



and are serious, and they belong to the order of 

 complaints of which it is emphatically true that 

 prevention is better than cure. Of all these it 

 may be said that once started they are apt to 

 break out again on the slightest recurrence of the 

 original causes. These are dirt and moisture. 

 The prevention and the cure are both assisted 

 by avoiding the causes. I never allow a horse's 

 legs or feet to be washed. The greatest care 

 should be exercised in picking out a horse's feet, 

 and on the smallest symptoms of thrush, which 

 can be easily detected by the smell, the feet should 

 be stopped with Stockholm tar. In bad cases of 

 thrush the foul matter should be carefully removed 

 — bearing in mind that a horse's foot is a very 

 delicate organism — and the cavity filled up with 

 tow and powdered alum. But in most cases 

 Stockholm tar is sufficient. Even in these days 

 grooms are very fond of stopping a horse's foot 

 with cow dung. This is quite useless, and probably 

 harmful. At all events it should never be permitted 

 in a well-managed stable. If the stable is apparently 

 clean and well kept, and the thrush persists, then 

 it may be well to examine the floor of the stable. 

 This will often in old stables be discovered to 

 be very foul, and this is quite sufficient to account 

 for the trouble. The floor should be picked up 

 to a depth of two feet, and the foul earth and 

 stones taken away. The space should be filled up 

 with rubble, which makes a good foundation, and 

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