356 HORSE AILMENTS AND HOW TO DOCTOR THEM. 



flax-seed or oil meal, one pint to a feed. On the second day, if 

 necessary, give the following medicine : 



Powdered gentian root, . . .2 ozs. 



Powdered nux vomica, . . .1 oz. 



Mix, and divide into six powders, and give one morning, noon, and 

 night. 



BRITTLENESS OP HOOP. 



A disease arising from keeping the hoof too dry, although 

 it is a natural defect in some horses. It prevails most in hot, 

 dry weather, and is sometimes quite a serious incumbrance. 



Treatment. Once, having a highly -bred and otherwise val- 

 uable mare subjected to this disease, I succeeded in accomplish- 

 ing a complete and permanent cure by the use of a hoof oint- 

 ment of my own origination, and manufactured and composed 

 as follows : 



Pish oil, . . . . . 1 qt. 



Oil of Tar 1 pt. 



Lard and verdigris, .... equal parts. 

 Both together making one pint. 



Apply daily to a clean foot and rub over the whole crust and sole. The 

 mare thus cured was known as Fannie Kenyon, and was the dam of Col. 

 Sprague (see Wallace's Trotting Register), by Sprague's Hambletonian, son 

 of Alexander's Abdallah, the sire of Gov. Sprague, 2.2<H, erroneously credited 

 to Rhode Island. 



BLINDNESS. 

 It has been said of man that his eyes were • the windows of 

 his soul; they are surely, in the horse's case, the windows 

 through which he looks into the world. How sad to have them, 

 forever closed. Blindness may be, in a measure, hereditary, 

 but it is by no means an affection to which the horse is liable 

 in a state of Nature. It is impossible to calculate the influence 

 of bad management in producing blindness ; but when once a 

 horse has become " stone blind " there is certainly no cure, and 

 I doubt if we can do anything to even partially restore his 

 sight. We can but treat such an unfortunate creature with the 

 utmost care and tenderness. Blind horses often perform their 

 work as well as others, and continue in it for many years. 



