HOW HORSES ARE LAMED.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2355, 20 October 1881, Page 4

HOW HORSES ARE LAMED.

Thera is no country where horses are so badly used as they usually are in our rural districts, and even in towns horses are worn out more quickly than in other countries. Horses with sound feet and limbs are not so common as they might be in the streets of Sydney. Bad shoeing and inattention to the regular removal at short intervals are fruitful causes of much of the lameness. In nine cases out of ten, in the rural districts, the shoes are allowed to remain without shifting until they are either cast or worn away. This of necessity must result in personal injury, such as contracted hoof, ringbone, &c., besides contributing to other leg maladies not directly arising from defective shoeing. The job is generally done by the village blacksmith, who may know no more about the business than fastening on the shoe and rasping the unfortunate hoof until the job has what he considers a neat appearance. This rasping of the hoof is even more injurious than bad shoeing. Every horse owner should forbid it so far as the outer skin of the hoof is concerned. All the rasping should be confined to the part on which the shoe is to be tted.

Many are of opinion that maize is the chief promoting cause of much of the lameness, by heating the blood and giving rise to fevered feet, &o. Whether there is any truth in this we are not prepared to give a decided opinion, but it is quite likely that the feed in question has a predisposing effect, and aggravates other causes. The excess of crooked legged and foundered horses in cabs, busses, &c., is truly lamentable, and we believe that the causes should be officially inquired into, with a view to the adoption of remedial measures, or at all events diffusing information as to the best way of preventing so disagreeable a characteristic. It would be a curious subject for inquiry what becomes of the worn-out horses. The average town horse is used up at an early age, though in our climate he should last longer than in Europe. We know of instances of horses of over twenty and even thirty years of age, and still useful, but the instances are rare, and wo believe much rarer than in other countries where the noble animal is better treated and cared let.