56 HORSES AND ROADS. 



front half of the crust. If he had stopped at that, 

 his narrow iron would not, in such a short length, 

 have either twisted or fractured, and he would have 

 made an advancement in shoeing which he has failed 

 to bring about. 



In spite of * Kangaroo,' a great majority of horsey 

 men refuse, or decline, to believe that the sole, how- 

 ever liberal they may be in their views towards the 

 frog and bars, is capable of bearing weight ; whereas 

 the real fact is that, unless it takes its share of the 

 weight, it becomes unhealthy, and a cause of 

 uneasiness to the horse. What observant and in- 

 telligent man, who is in the habit of visiting his 

 stable, has failed to remark that, when a horse 

 is going to dung, he takes a preliminary step for- 

 wards, and after having finished dropping, he backs 

 both hind feet on to the top of it ? What instinct 

 leads him to do this ? The groom will tell you that 

 the horse is in search of something soft and cooling 

 for his feet ; but, unfortunately for his theory, it 

 happens that, so far from being soft and cooling, the 

 matter in question is solid and warm ; for a horse 

 suffering from diarrhoea will not draw ahead and 

 then back, and of this any one may convince himself 

 by waiting to see. Why, then, does he go through 

 these manoeuvres ? Why, simply to get, what he is 

 otherwise deprived of, sole pressure. Soft cowdung 

 will not afford it to him; and he will knowingly 

 squeeze it out by getting his feet, and his weight, on 

 something more solid. 



Again, who has not seen when a horse is at 



