254 HORSE AND MAN. 



' The next day our coachman removed the blinkers, 

 and from that time he has behaved admirably amidst 

 the busy traffic of the streets, without evincing a 

 tendency to shy. 



' The inference I draw from this and other cases 

 is, that blinkers are totally unnecessary, and do more 

 harm than good. In passing other vehicles at cross- 

 ings and when turning, instead of going blindly on 

 at the risk of running against whatever may be near 

 them, horses without blinkers know what is wanted, 

 and so become much more easy to drive.' 



The reader will probably have gathered from this 

 narrative the necessity for the master's eye as the 

 only check upon the perverse obstinacy of servants, 

 who will always revert to their accustomed ways 

 whenever they can find an opportunity. It cannot 

 be too often repeated that argument with a servant 

 is useless, and should never be used. 



' You may prove to your coachman and grooms 

 that scooping out the interior of the hoof is destruc- 

 tion to the horse ; that the bearing-rein causes horses 

 to fall, and that the blinkers induce them to shy. 

 Your reasoning will "go in at one ear and out of the 

 other," without producing the least impression on the 

 man's mind ; and, unless he knows that he is closely 

 watched, he will carry off the horse to the farrier's at 

 the first opportunity and have the frog and bars cut 



