Page:Horses and roads.djvu/167

 Rh but failing sight might be improved, and incipient ossifications be dispersed in some instances.

The writer knows of one stable which contains only three horses—valuable ones when purchased—of which one suffers from false quarter and very brittle hoofs; the second is a windsucker, and has overshot fetlocks;  and the third cuts himself behind so badly that he has no nails on the inside of the hoofs, except one just inside the centre of each toe, whilst on the outside half he has six nails;  his action is bad, as he has always a tendency to ‘lift up’ behind. He knows of another stable, also containing three horses, which would be valuable if they were sound. One suffers from corns that have to be pared out fortnightly; the second has hoofs that scarcely grow, and seedy toe, and has a confirmed habit of gnawing everything within his reach;  he has not as yet, being quite young, become a crib-biter, but he will most likely come to that;  the third has splints, for which he is periodically tortured with blisters, and after each blistering he is found to be worse. The number of such stables is legion.

Veterinary surgeons, when they examine a horse as to soundness, as it is defined by law, continually find themselves obliged to add riders to their certificates as to existing circumstances which may lead to unsoundness at some future date. If they could only get rid of their prejudice in favour of the shoe, how much trouble and responsibility they might save themselves, and what disgusting operations—for instance in the case of quittor—they might free