Little can be said concerning the cure of lameness. The causes are various, and, of course, the remedies are as numerous as the provocatives. One thing may, however, be advised: have the shoe taken off and the foot searched. Never mind the horn being pared away--many a horse limps upon a whole hoof; and it is astonishing upon how small a portion of horn an animal may go sound. The seat of the injury being ascertained, and so much of the inorganic covering removed as may be necessary to afford some relief, always soak the foot in the bath before permitting the final use of the knife. The water cleanses the part, favors the discharge of pus, lowers the inflammatory action, softens the anguish, and destroys the harsh character of the dry horn. This last substance, as was observed, by the united action of warmth and moisture loses its resistant property. It cuts easily when newly released from the bath; and if the knife be sharp, it may be excised without any of that dragging sensation which frequently provokes the animal to snatch away the member while it is being operated upon. PUMICE FOOT. =Pumice foot= is a deformity produced by hard work; it does certainly appear strange, when we regard the beauty and strength united in the frame of the horse, that man's barbarity should exceed Nature's ingenuity. A more captivating present--heightening human pleasures, lessening human toil--than the horse, it is impossible to imagine; but its beauty seems only given for man to deface. A stronger helpmate, when speed is considered, it appeared beyond the most excited imagination to fancy. But the cruelty of the master found it easy to incapacitate the power so exquisitely endowed. The speed was too slow for the eagerness of the rider; the docility was not apt enough for the impatience of the possessor; in every particular the servant seems to have been at fault; and now we hear men gravely lamenting the invention of railroads, because these will interfere with the breeding of horses. Let us hope the establishment of railroads may supply a deficiency which the willingness of flesh and blood was unable to gratify. Animals bred on a marshy land, and of a loose habit of body, are apt to have weak feet, a specimen of which is given on next page, though not of one belonging to the heavy cart-horse. All the delineations inserted in this book are necessarily extreme cases; it is easy for the imagination to soften the evil when the mind is impressed with characteristics of the thing which is depicted; but not always so free from difficulty for an untutored imagination to magnify a reduced portrait. A weak foot has a long, slanting pastern; the hoof is marked by rings, showing the irregularity of the horny secretion, and the crust is broken in those places where nails have been driven to fasten on the shoe, proving the brittle nature of the hoof. [Illustration: A WEAK FOOT.] [Illustration: THE SOLE OF A WEAK FOOT.]