166 HORSE AND MAN. 



is a severe one. The result is, to my mind, conclu- 

 sive, and the mare is with me now, unshod, and 

 doing her usual work.' 



Mr. Baker's success naturally drew upon him 

 the wrath of those whose living depended on farriery, 

 and their angry letters to the newspapers are 

 numerous and amusing. Of course no real argu- 

 ments could be produced, the writers having re- 

 course to sarcasm, denial of facts, and invective. 



One of these professionals, in a long letter to 

 the ' North Devon Journal,' employs a most ludicrous 

 series of objections. He cannot deny that the animal 

 wears no shoes, and may be able ' to potter about, 

 and do the little she has to do barefooted.' Then 

 he states that the unshod hoof cannot withstand 

 contact with the hard roads if the animal be worked 

 regularly, entirely ignoring the fact that the horse 

 was worked regularly, and had done nearly one 

 hundred miles in a week. 



Then he says that he has seen horses quite lame 

 which had been working unshod on a farm, and 

 therefore that it is impossible to work on a road 

 without going lame. Then he accuses Mr. Baker of 

 retrogression to the barbarian days when there were 

 no blacksmiths, so that the horses could not obtain 

 shoes, although they needed them. 



Lastly, he takes a higher standpoint, and boldly 



