Horseshoeing. 273 



first diminished, and ultimately destroyed, whereby the horse is 

 soon rendered useless. I take it there are few persons who will 

 dispute the expansion of the horse's foot, but whatever the general 

 theory about it may be, the all but universal practice is to treat 

 it as an inelastic solid, whose chief use is to pound MacAdamized 

 roads. 



The horse in a state of nature roams about at will with his 

 feet unfettered, and they take no harm, simply because he is 

 permitted to look where he is going, pick his way over difficult 

 ground, and direct his own pace ; but as soon as he enters the 

 service of man these valuable privileges and safeguards are with- 

 drawn, and the various uses to which he is put, and the rapid 

 rate at which he is required to travel over all sorts of roads, call 

 for some efficient protection to his feet, and it is not only our 

 duty, in return for the important services he renders, to see that 

 it is applied in the manner the least detrimental to him, but it 

 is our interest to do so in anticipation of the lengthened service 

 it will insure to us. If horses were always properly shod, and 

 properly stabled, they would repay the care thus bestowed on 

 them by the increased length of efficient service they would per- 

 form. When a horse has worked seven or eight years it is no 

 uncommon thing to hear his master say, " he owes me nothing," 

 which may be perfectly true, considering the treatment he has 

 received ; but if he had been properly treated during the time he 

 would be still some eight or ten years of active service in his 

 master's debt. 



The horse is a much longer lived animal than people generally 

 suppose him to be ; but the prevalent mistake as to the length of 

 his natural life may be attributed to two opposite causes : First, 

 the very large number that are known to die at an early age — 

 victims, it may truly be said, of over-work, bad management, and 

 cruel treatment ; and next, the great difficulty there always is of 

 ascertaining the real age of a horse when the mark has dis- 

 appeared fi'om his mouth. Horses are marketable commodities, 

 and very few persons are disposed to lessen their value, by 

 recording very accurately the number of years that pass over 

 their heads, after the mark is gone ; the consequence is, that they 

 remain about nine or ten years old so long, that their actual age 

 becomes buried in oblivion, and at last no one really does know 

 how old they are. Many a man at this moment is using a horse, 

 perhaps some eight or ten years older than he thinks he is. I 

 remember many years ago purchasing an active showy horse, said 

 to be about the mysterious age of other people's horses, and 

 there was nothing in his appearance or powers of work to indi- 

 cate greater age ; but on tracing his history I discovered that he 

 was twenty-nine years old, and the sire of a very large progeny. 



