THE CARE OF HORSES. 287 



auger and contempt with which a certain blacksmith, 

 a good mechanic, moreover, once told me of a present 

 that he had just received from a grateful customer. 

 It was a work on the diseases of the hoof, written by 

 a Vet of five times his experience and ten times his 

 information. " To think," he exclaimed, in the tone 

 of one whose pride had received a wanton insult, — 

 "to think that any book could teach me anything 

 about the foot of a hoss ! " 



Now I fear that we horsemen are all more or less 

 like this blacksmith ; and accordingly I address my- 

 self, not to the craft, but to the ordinary horse owner, 

 who has acquired no special knowledge of the animal, 

 and who does not enjoy the services of a stud-groom. 

 Nevertheless, I make bold to say that among the fol- 

 lowing pages will be found a few original remarks, 

 worthy the attention even of a horseman. It would 

 be odd indeed had I failed to pick up an idea or two 

 concerning matters that lie so near my heart. And 

 here I might repeat what was said to me last sum- 

 mer by a middle-aged farmer, a rough, grizzle-headed 

 "Down-easter." We stood in his barnyard on a 

 pleasant Sunday afternoon, while a weanling filly 

 — whose high merits had just been pointed out — 

 contentedly chewed an enormous and horny thumb 

 extended by her master for that purpose. Suddenly 

 the farmer turned to me, — being careful, however, 

 not to disengage his thumb, — and remarked, with 

 an obvious and unusual effort at introspection, "I 

 like a good horse awful well!" So do I, — so, I 

 am persuaded, does the reader, — and accordingly, 

 with his permission, we will put on our hats, and 

 saunter out to 



