THi£ HORSE. 
57 
receive sufficient moisture in the fields, or if they do not get much they 
do not need much. Cart-horses used in the town should be stopped 
once a week or oftener during winter, and every second night in the hot 
weeks of summer. Groggy horses and all those with high heels, con- 
cave shoes, or hot and tender feet or an exuberance of horn, require 
stopping almost every night. When neglected, especially in dry weather, 
the sole becomes hard and rigid, and the horse goes lame or becomes 
lame if he were not so before.” 
One of two substances or a mixture of both is generally ulm for stop- 
ping the feet — clay and cow-dung. The clay used alone is too hard and 
dries too rapidly. Many horses have been lamed by it. If it is used in 
the stable, it should always be removed before the horse goes to work. 
It may perhaps be applied to the feet of heavy draught-horses, for it will 
work out before much mischief is done. 
Cow dung is softer than the clay, and it has this good property, that 
it rarely or never becomes too hard or dry. For ordinary work, a mix- 
ture of equal parts of clay and cow-dung will be the best application ; 
either of them, however, must be applied with a great deal of caution, 
where there is any disposition to thrush. Tow used alone or with a small 
quantity of tar will often be serviceable. 
In the better kind of stables a felt pad is frequently used. It keeps the 
foot cool and moist, and is very useful when the sole has a tendency to 
become flat. For the concave sole tow would be preferable. 
The Sandal. — The shoe is sometimes displaced when the horse is going 
at an ordinary pace, and more frequently during hunting; and no per- 
son who is a sportsman needs to be told in what a vexatious predica- 
ment every one feels himself who happens to loose a shoe in the middle 
of a chase. 
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