252 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



should no reliable farrier be within reach, to bring 

 one with him ; and see that anything he may 

 require in the way of hot water, etc., is ready 

 against his arrival. 



It is curious that where horses have one or more 

 of their feet white, the white is always more liable 

 to disease than the darker-coloured ones. The 

 horn of a white foot is never as tough and good 

 as that of a dark foot, and yet a white or gray 

 horse is generally a good one. I may here remark 

 that if there are any two colours which bespeak 

 hardiness and general goodness more than another, 

 black-brown and gray are those colours. I think, 

 for choice, the former, especially when accompanied, 

 as it often is, with a tan muzzle. 



But to return to what I was saying. If a horse 

 is lame and he has a white leg or foot, the chances 

 are that the lame leg or foot is the white one. 

 Chestnut horses are very apt to go in the feet, more 

 so than those of any other colour, and they are 

 more subject to sandcracks. A sandcrack is a 

 nasty, troublesome thing to cure. It is a crack 

 which runs down the foot. It may not be neces- 

 sarily the entire length of the foot, but inasmuch 

 as such cracks usually commence from the coronet, 

 which is the base of the horn growth, it must 

 necessarily take a long time before it grows out. 



