12 
ON VETERINARY IMPROVEMENT. 
sound ever since*. He could scarcely bear any weight on the limb, 
so severe was the injury, whatever it might have been; but from 
what cause must remain a mystery. 
One word more, with your permission. Were it not that the 
advantages of the in-door system of keeping horses in the summer 
were now universally admitted, I could produce conviction from 
my own stable at this time. It contains a five-year-old horse 
and an aged mare. The former has been two years in my stable; 
the latter taken from grass in July last. They both live and work 
alike; but how are they affected by work! The horse seldom 
sweats much, but if he does he dries immediately. The mare, 
much the stronger of the two, sweats profusely when driven or 
ridden fast, and is not dry under several hours. 
Now, allow me to conclude with this observation on the inex¬ 
haustible subject of the foot. Imperfect feet may, no doubt, be 
mended by certain peculiar methods of shoeing: but the natural 
foot will never be injured by the concave seated shoe, properly 
applied, and not suffered to work into the heel. I never had a 
horse lamed from shoeing, nor can I recollect a single instance of 
lameness from corns in my own stable. 
Postscript .—I take this opportunity of observing, that, in the 
last Number of the Sporting Review, I have commenced a series 
of papers, containing a short notice of every horse worthy of no¬ 
tice that has passed through my stables. Some curious facts will 
be elicited, perhaps not altogether uninteresting to the veterinary 
profession. 
Nimrod. 
ON VETERINARY IMPROVEMENT. 
By Henry Hallen, Esq., Qth Inniskilling Dragoons. 
As there is now so much said relative to the examination of 
veterinary pupils, I cannot remain silent upon so important a sub¬ 
ject. If, in addition to what your correspondents have already 
recommended, they had suggested that the examination should 
extend to the real practical part of the profession, viz., that of 
casting, and otherwise securing our patients for operations, and the 
actual performance of operations incidental to veterinary practice, 
this would have been a most important addition. A want of a 
thorough knowledge of these essentials very soon blasts the cha¬ 
racter of a veterinary surgeon in the estimation of men conversant 
with horses; and he would, consequently, be considered more at 
* As this letter is dated nearly two months back, I wish to state that the 
horse remains quite sound. 
