128 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



however, we can substantiate this charge, we must 

 prove that it was intended that horses should carry 

 heavy weight on their backs, or be driven at the rate 

 we drive them on hard roads, or that human beings 

 should eat and drink boiling-hot food ; for I believe 

 that the teeth of savages, in a state of nature, are 

 said to last to the latest period of their lives. With 

 regard to Europeans, it is certain that their teeth, 

 generally speaking, do not endure half their natural 

 existence ; and were it customary to ascertain the age 

 of a man, as we do that of a horse, by looking into his 

 mouth, we should generally find at the age of forty 

 as great a lack of grinders as Sancho did in the jaws 

 of his master after one of his renowned battles. 



It cannot be denied that the treatment and diseases 

 of horses' feet embrace a subject of the highest im- 

 portance, not only to a sportsman, but to all who 

 possess valuable studs for the common purposes of 

 life. It is a subject on which I could write a volume 

 — the result of observation and practice. Indeed, it 

 may be said that enough has been written upon it 

 already ; and we must also admit that no small 

 quantum of quackery and bookmaking has been the 

 result. We have had shoes of all descriptions, some of 

 which must excite a smile ; and the short reign they 

 had proved their inutility and folly. My experience, 

 however, has led me to the following bold conclusions 

 — first, that the original form of a horse's foot has 

 nothing to do with his soundness ; secondly, that 

 contraction of the hoof is the effect, and not the cause 

 of disease ; thirdly, that unless nature has done her 



