The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom: compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modernMaxwell, W. H. (William Hamilton)
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The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom: compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern
Maxwell, W. H. (William Hamilton)
Amusements -- Great Britain; Sports -- Dictionaries; Sports -- Great Britain
Feet so exceedingly different in the nature of their construction, must
certainly require as different a mode of treatment, according to such
circumstances as happen to exist. To preserve feet perfectly sound, and
free from the ills to which they are subject, cleanliness is the leading
step. After exercise or use, so soon as the body is drest, the dirt or
gravel should be carefully taken from under the shoes with a picker, the
feet well washed, the legs and heels rubbed dry, the bottom stopped with
cow-dung, and the hoofs oiled with a brush impregnated with spermaceti
oil. Horses left with wet legs and heels after a severe chase, or long
journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or during frost and snow,
constitute cracks or scratches to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is
occasioned in the very texture of the integument, and it becomes
partially ruptured or broken in various places, upon being brought into
expeditious action; which, with the friction and irritation then
occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel in dirty roads, soon produce
lacerations of the most painful description.
The state of the shoes should be constantly attended to. Permitted to
remain too long upon the feet, the growth of the hoof brings the shoe
forward, rendering it too short at the heel, when it begins to indent,
and sinking upon the foot, soon presses upon the outer sole,
constituting pain or disquietude in some horses, laying the foundation
of corns in others. Horses in moderate work require new shoes once a
month upon an average, never varying more than two or three days from
that time: indeed, it is not right that they should go longer. The
penurious plan of removing shoes half worn, is truly ridiculous; they
never render service adequate to the expense, and the practice only
tends to a more frequent destruction of the hoof. Thrushes should be
counteracted upon their first appearance, without being permitted to
acquire a corroding virulence. Swelled legs are hardly ever seen in
stables where a proper course of discipline and regular routine of
business is observed; they proceed from a viscid, sizy state of the
blood, a languor in the circulation, a want of exercise out of the
stable, or a sufficiency of friction, leg-rubbing, care, and attention
within.
* * * * *
Pointers’ and setters’ feet, particularly the former, are frequently
chafed; their feet should always, after being hunted, be thoroughly
washed with salt and water, and, half an hour afterwards, be well rubbed
with hog’s-lard.—_Montagu_—_Blaine_—_Taplin_—_Thornhill._
FELINE, _a._ Like a cat, pertaining to a cat.
FELL, _s._ The skin, the hide.
FELLOE, _s._ The circumference of a wheel.
FELLOW, _s._ An associate, one united in the same affair; one of the
same kind or litter.
FELT, _s._ Cloth made of wool united without weaving; a hide or
skin.
FEMALE, _s._ A she, one of the sex which brings young.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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