TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 115 
tliese cases is it possible to restore the hoof to its healthy 
state by the application of hoof ointments, stopping of the feet 
with cow-dung, &c. ? Certainly not; the hoof can only be 
restored by applying medical treatment to the organ which 
produces it, that is, to the so-called coronary ligament. On 
the other hand, if the bones, the articulations, ligaments, or 
tendons, have some faulty organization, which it is evident 
that hygiene cannot always remedy, the negative results are 
not, as such, to be attributed to it. Neither can the hygiene 
remedy the brittleness of the hoof. 
The author has deemed it necessary to make these preli¬ 
minary remarks, to account for the unsuccessful results some¬ 
times obtained, and to define the limits of the hygiene of the 
horse’s foot. 
The first thing to be attended to is the aplomb, the level 
bearing or equal distribution of the weight over the limbs. 
This canonlybeohtained by good shoeing. The shoeing is good— 
1 st. When the feet are kept of equal size for the same animal, 
both before or behind, and in proportion to the size of the 
body. 2ndly. When the shoes are not too heavy, and are 
of equal weight for the animal, both behind and before. 
3rdly. When the hoof is not rasped above the clinches, so as 
to remove the animal product, so essential to the preservation 
of the crust or wall of the hoof. 4thly. When the ground 
surface of the foot has not been weakened by undue cutting of 
the sole and frog, as is customary in English shoeing. And 
5thly. When the animal moves freely and with ease, and 
the shoes wear out regularly in every part of their ground 
surface. 
Shoeing, whatever may have been said against it by some 
persons, is one of the best means of preservation of the feet 
of the horse, particularly when done by a . skilful shoeing- 
smith, one who can reason on the rationale of the applica¬ 
tion of the shoe. 
One thing to which no attention has been hitherto paid is 
the cutting of the hair of the lower part of the horse’s legs. 
This is often done to make coarse-bred horses resemble the 
better bred, which have naturally short and silky hairs on 
their legs. This practice has very little inconvenience in 
summer, but not so in winter, when the animal is obliged to 
stand in wet, frosty, and snowy weather. The lower extremity, 
being protected by the hoof, which is a bad conductor of 
caloric, will take no harm; the horse can stand a long time 
with his feet on the ice, or in the snow, without in the least 
lowering their temperature; but when the legs are deprived 
of the hairs, their natural protection, the cold and the wet, 
