THE PARK HACK. 169 



horses in front. Unshod horses cannot pick it up 

 or even scatter it knee-high. 



Although it may be rather out of place here, we 

 will remark en passant that * circus ' horses do not 

 appear to labour under any very pressing necessity 

 of being cursed with shoes, yet they are ; and they 

 continually favour spectators in the front seats 

 with showers of filth that often finds a resting-place 

 in the eye, and thus deprives its receiver of the 

 enjoyment of the remainder of the ' spectacle.' 



But, anyhow, breeders of park hacks, seeing the 

 concession made by authority in favour of these 

 animals, would be going out of their road, and in- 

 curring extra risks, if they shod them even to break 

 them. Let them break them unshod, and in the 

 same state offer them for sale. They would thus 

 pass their examination as to soundness without 

 difficulty ; and then if their buyers thought proper 

 to shoe them their sin would be upon their own 

 heads. By so doing, they would simply follow up 

 the purchase of a valuable article by deliberate 

 efforts to depreciate its intrinsic worth. Of course, 

 there should be fair play over the transaction, and 

 it should be understood that the horse had his feet 

 inured to hard roads, and not have been broken-in 

 upon grass. Horses broken-in upon grass do not 

 acquire showy action. It would not, therefore, pay 

 to shirk the thing ; and this would be a safeguard 

 for the buyer, in case he wanted the horse for imme- 

 diate work ; it would regulate the price. ' A thing 

 (of any kind) is worth what it will fetch/ and so 



