108 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



as that of one who thoroughly understood it in all its 

 branches. 



But " Horse and Man " by no means treats of the 

 hoof and the shoe alone. That instrument of cruel 

 torture the bearing-rein comes in for strong censure 

 also, and it is pointed out how, in the desire to attain 

 a false and utterly unnatural standard of beauty, the 

 health of the horse is injured, and its capability for work 

 greatly diminished, while it is subjected to positive 

 agony by the abominable appliance in question. Many 

 of the diseases to which horses are subject are traced 

 entirely to its use, while it is shown that it can serve no 

 useful purpose whatever, and cannot be defended on 

 the ground either of utility or of elegance. 



Then the ridiculous appliances known as " blinkers " 

 are attacked in their turn ; and it is shown that they 

 injure the eye partly by heating it, and partly by strain- 

 ing the vision that they are a frequent cause of " shying " 

 upon the part of their wearer, who can obtain merely a 

 transitory and imperfect view of some unfamiliar object, 

 and so naturally takes alarm, while their only possible 

 function is to protect the eyes from the whip of a care- 

 less driver ! For, as riding horses are never seen with 

 blinkers, it is impossible to pretend that their office is 

 to prevent the animal from catching sight of objects 

 which might alarm it ; saddle horses being obviously 

 as liable to alarm as those in harness. 



Then follow a few words upon the now, happily, 

 extinct practices of " docking " and " ear-cropping," 

 while the last two chapters are devoted to defects in 



