CARE OF THE TROOP HORSE. 
607 
On the march and on service every small casualty must be looked to 
at once, for you cannot afford to lay horses up. Fullers earth is a 
capital dressing for small chafes. When saddles are taken off in camp 
I strongly recommend the backs to be well dried and then sharply 
wisped for 10 minutes with the palms of the hands, this prevents heat 
lumps rising; if they do come, salt or vinegar and water may be applied. 
You will see this beating with the palms of the hands done in the 
French cavalry, I believe. 
The chief points to observe in shoeing, for a man who has not studied shoeing, 
it, are:— 
The foot should be at about an angle of 45 degrees to the ground or 
face of the shoe (with flat and bad feet this cannot be). The shoe 
should fit the hoof exactly, there should be no dumping, rasping and 
hammering the toe to fit the shoe, giving it a round and worn appear¬ 
ance. The inner cage of the shoe should not press on the frog at 
the heels. The sole and frog should be left untouched by the knife, 
except as far as trimming off rough and ragged bits of the frog. The 
nails should come out evenly all round. The clenches should be well 
turned and there should be no rasping outside the hoof. The knife 
should be but little used; in fact, but few shoeing-smiths are to be 
trusted with a knife. 
In conclusion, I should strongly urge on all young officers to learn to 
shoe roughly, and to go and study at the forge and pharmacy three or 
four hours a week for three months. In that time they would 
learn to treat simple cases, to give drenches, make balls, also all the 
rudiments of nursing. Every officer should be able to use the ther¬ 
mometer, to back-rake a horse and give an enema, and treat colds, 
coughs, livers, and all simple cases of sickness. They should know the 
secret of lameness and be able to distinguish one class of lameness from 
another. The Veterinary-Surgeon in charge will always be delighted 
to help them in every way. There are lots of excellent books on treat¬ 
ment, and if they do not want to dip too deeply into the subject, the 
notes that I, myself, wrote in the Institution papers, when a Subaltern 
in 1878, will meet the case. 
There may be many occasions during every officer's service, when he 
will find himself detached without a Veterinary-Surgeon or even a farrier, 
and then a rough knowledge of medicines and treatment will be more 
than useful. I would impress on all ranks to treat the horse, not as a 
machine, but as a friend, both in riding him on the field and in dealing 
with him in the stable. He will thoroughly repay every little care and 
kindness. It is almost impossible not to grow fond of a good horse (of 
course there are bad horses and bad men), and the longer and more 
you live with horses the more you learn to like them. When I look 
back for the last 25 years of my life on the friends I have made and 
lost, a black mare and a chestnut horse come before my memory as 
almost two of the dearest. 
