INDIAN TROOP HORSES IN STABLES AND ON THE LINE OF MARCH. 23 
about two swallows of water on return, and give them their long drink 
when they have had time to get cool. 
JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER. 
We are now in the rains and combating with the evils of (1) wet 
bedding and grass; (2) nothing but the roads to exercise on; (3) bad 
feet. 
(1) Wer Buppine AND Grass. 
To treat these the following will be found a good plan. Take your 
one day’s supply of grass and spread it all out under cover (some place 
can always be found), turning it over three or four times in the twenty- 
four hours. Grass, however wet, will dry very much in this way. You 
can then mix about one-third of this next morning with two-thirds of 
your dry store that I previously advocated, and your horses will havea 
good wholesome ration. Then put the remaining two-thirds of this wet 
grass with your dry store, shake it up, and one will dry the other, and 
soon. Inthis way your horses will not go wrong, and will keep in 
serviceable condition throughout the autumn. 
The serviceable mounted corps is the one whose horses are always 
fit for work, and not, as I have seen before this, unfit to be on parade 
in the autumn, and then filled with grass and polished up for the in- 
spections of the year. A sound critical eye, however, sees through 
this. The slimy condition thus produced does not deceive him, 
(2) Exercise oN THE Roaps. 
I put this in because now that so many horses are shod only on the 
fore feet, the hind feet, though right enough so long as the ground is 
soft and dry, want constant watching when the animal is confined in 
wet weather to a hard stony road. The damp softens the hoof and 
causes it to wear down until the feet are so tender that the horse is 
lame. Some hoofs wear much quicker than others ; butas soon as any 
hind hoofs are detected wearing down too much I advocate a racing 
plate being tacked on with three or four light nails at once. In this 
way the hoof is preserved, and the plate can be taken off when the dry 
weather comes on again. If the hoof is worn too much to allow of any 
plate being put on, the animal must be put to stand in mud until the 
horn grows again. The grossest carelessness, however, would alone 
allow the hoofs to reach this stage. 
Gun and waggon horses require shoeing all round always, since their 
action in pulling tends to act on the toes and wear them away. 
(3) Bap Furr. 
The rains find this defect out terribly. Thrush, bad frogs, soft wall 
to the hoof, all require constant watching and prompt attention. 
Nature has given some horses harder hoofs than others; indeed all 
draught animals and beasts of burden have been provided with feet 
suitable to their original country. 
A Welsh hill pony has a hoof like iron, so has a mule. No macad- 
amized road makes any impression on them, because the rocks are their 
natural country. 
