CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 801 



foot, especially that of the sole and foot pad, and it is 

 evident the amount lost by evaporation must be replaced if 

 horn is to remain elastic ; this is facilitated by the tubular 

 character of horn. 



Horn may exist in either an elastic form or else dry and 

 brittle ; the latter condition is well seen in the dried foot of 

 the museum, that readily fractures like glass if dropped on 

 the ground. A few hours soaking in water of this glass- 

 like horn is sufificient to restore it to the condition it was in 

 when first removed from the animal, while fracture of it 

 from violence is now impossible. 



Horn requires a sufficiency but not an excess of moisture; 

 contact with the ground is also essential for the full develop- 

 ment of the foot, and for producing the best class of horn ; 

 finally, it needs cleanliness, and especially freedom from 

 urine. 



Horn is only modified skin, and anything which affects 

 the cutaneous surface may also affect the feet ; this is very 

 well seen in certain pathological processes, where sympathy 

 between the skin and feet is very marked. 



The care of the feet in the stable is comprised in the 

 word cleanliness and ordinary dryness. Cleanliness to 

 insure the horn undergoing no change as the result of 

 the action of urine and fteces, ordinary dryness to avoid 

 the rotting of horn by constant exposure to wet. "We do 

 not consider there is the slightest necessity for drying the 

 feet after washing them out, as sometimes recommended. 

 Since the days of Xenophon it has been known that horses 

 kept on a dry surface had stronger and better feet, and feet 

 more capable of resisting injury, than those brought up on 

 filth and moisture. 



If for no other reason than this, the abominable system 



pursued on the Continent of Europe, and at one time 



actually introduced for trial into our Army, of allowing 



horses to stand on unchanged litter for three or more 



months, stands unhesitatingly condemned. If horses' feet 



are poulticed in this way by standing on a fermenting mass 



of filth, while at the same time the horn is attacked by 



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