126 STABLE ECONOMY. 



greasy mixture to the wall, or, as it is sometimes termed, the 

 crust, all that portion of the hoof which is visible when the 

 horse is standing upon it. They suppose that the ointment 

 penetrates the horn and softens it. But in this there is some 

 error. The depth to which any unctuous application pen- 

 etrates is very insignificant. The only mode in which an oint- 

 ment can contribute to the elasticity of the hoof, is by prevent- 

 ing its moisture from flying ofl*. It operates like a varnish, 

 protecting the horn from the desiccating effects of an arid 

 atmosphere. A hoof ointment will exclude moisture as well 

 as retain it ; and there are some feet which require an oint- 

 ment to keep the moisture in, and others to keep the moisture 

 out. Water alone enters the pores of horn very readily, and 

 it never does so without rendering the horn soft and yielding. 

 There are many horses, particularly heavy horses, that have 

 weak feet, the crust thin, the sole flat, and the heels low. 

 The crust is hardly strong enough to support the horse's 

 weight. When softened it yields, the sole sinks lower, and 

 the whole foot becomes worse than it was before. Such a 

 foot should seldom be purposely softened by the application 

 of water. It should have sufficient moisture to prevent brit- 

 tleness, but no more. When the horse has to work lono- and 

 often in deep, wet ground, an ointment will prevent it from ab- 

 sorbing too much water. Should this or any other foot become 

 brittle, it may be soaked in water, and then immediately after 

 covered with an ointment to retain the water. I have ob- 

 served the effects of long-continued application of water to 

 the hoofs of horses that were employed for several days in 

 carting sand from the bed of a river. The horn became ex- 

 cessively soft, the nails lost their hold ; the sole, especially 

 of weak hoofs, sunk a little, and the crust became oblique. 

 Subsequently, when these horses came to their ordinary 

 work on the stones, the horn became brittle, so brittle that it 

 would hardly hold a nail. The surface of the hoof is nat- 

 urally covered by a varnish which protects it from the air. 

 But after this varnish is rubbed olf by working in wet sand, 

 by standing in sponge boots, or by the smith's rasp in shoe- 

 ing, water enters the hoof very quickly, and leaves it as 

 quickly, taking with it the moisture which the varnish had 

 previously retained. 



Then, to make a rigid, strong foot elastic, the horn should 

 be saturated with water, and to keep it elastic, the ointment 

 should be applied before the water evaporates. To keep a 

 thin weak foot as hard and unyielding as possible without 



