MILES ON UNILATERAL NAILING. 159 



well up to fifteen stone, and ready and eager for his 

 feed when he got home, as his attention would not 

 be distraught from the cravings of his stomach by 

 agony in his feet and legs. 



Then, again, we have been told that unshod 

 horses, when used in cattle-driving, do not slip 

 about on wet grass, and roll over as shod ones do. 

 This fact alone is valuable, but we may note further 

 that in certain weathers the feet of shod horses will 

 clog even in grass ; and when the clods fly out, with 

 the force they do, the effects of leverage must 

 become, upon reflection, more apparent to the edu- 

 cated. Further still, when we come to consider that 

 horses have so often to take off on slippery grass 

 (and land upon it also) at leaps, we may easily com- 

 prehend that refusals, baulks, and falls would be 

 diminished. Then, again, in taking a drop-jump 

 from a field, over a fence, into a road or lane. Mr. 

 Miles says : ' No horse experiences the full extent 

 of the benefit of one-sided nailing with few nails like 

 the hunter ; it is a great boon to every horse, but to 

 him it is a blessing of the highest order, and one in 

 which his rider participates more largely than some 

 persons appear to imagine. When a hunter is shod 

 in the usual manner, with seven or eight nails, some 

 are always, for the sake of security, placed in the 

 inner quarter, which is the most expansive portion 

 of the hoof (?). Let a horse with his feet so circum- 

 stanced be called upon to leap from a high bank into 

 a hard road and what happens? The weight of 

 the horse and his rider is thrown with an impetus, 



