OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRAINING AND RESPONSIBIL- 

 ITIES OF FARRIERS. 



I can c-onceive of notliiii!^ luoro painful to a luimane and 

 thoughtful mind than the intense, long-continued, and Ji('1[)1gss 

 sulVering that the unskilled and careless *f a rri'T so often inflicts on 

 man's patient, mute, and ihi-ffon' uin-oinplaining, frii-nd, tin* 

 horse, by sending, a nail tearing through the keenly sensitive 

 nerves of his foot. A human licing with a nail in his foot can go 

 to a i)hysician, <ir at least can make the trouble known, and have 

 something done to relieve the pain. If a gravel-stone, or other 

 hard siil)stance, gets intn his shoe, he can remove it. If the shoe 

 pinches, or otherwise hurts, it can be laid aside and the foot 

 rested, or another shoe put on in its place. Now, suppose that, 

 without the power of si)eecli. without the ability to remove this 

 shoe, some other being w<mld thus injure a man's foot, would 

 force on a shoe too tight, or otherwise badly fitting and hurtful, 

 ami should so fasten it that it could not be removed, what suffer- 

 ing he would endure, what sympathy would be aroused for liim, 

 what efforts would be made for his relief, what laws would be 

 passed and enforced to i^revent and punish such inhumanity 1 

 But the sufferings of the poor animal, whose services are so closely 

 connected with the toils, the pleasures, even the development, of 

 our race, are seldom even thought of. Indeed, a majority of 

 persons seem to think that a horse's foot is only a hard, horny 

 mas.s, without capacity for pain or ft^eling, that maybe hacked, 

 pared, burned, nailed and mutilated at will by any apj)rentice or 

 other person who chooses to claim al^ility enough to fasten a piece 

 of iron to what he seems to consider as a mere piece of inanimate 

 matter. This is a great mistake. The horse's foot is a l^eautiful 

 structure, highly organized, containing nerves, Idood-vessels, 

 delicate joints, and other organs and mechanism, whose arrange- 

 (xiv/0 



