1 88 THE HUNTING FIELD 



Horse," 1 written by Lord Brougham, and a select party 

 of sportsmen (Mr. Leader, most likely, and others), 

 and published under the superintendence of the 

 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge — a 

 work that contains more really useful matter in an 

 easy, unpedantic, intelligible-to-the-meanest-capacity- 

 form, than any that we know of; and were it not for 

 the tendency it might have to lead ignorant fellows 

 to experimentalise on poor horses, we could wish it 

 were in every saddle-room as well. That, perhaps, 

 not being desirable, we may quote a passage on shoe- 

 ing that is incapable of perversion, and well worthy 

 the attention of masters, servants, Bullwaists, and all 

 — if such bigoted creatures as Bullwaists are open to 

 conviction: — "We will suppose the horse is sent to 

 the forge to be shod," says Lord Brougham and Co. : 

 " If the master would occasionally accompany him 

 there, he would find it much to his advantage. The 

 old shoe must be first taken off. We have something 

 to observe even on this. It was retained on the foot 

 by the ends of the nails being twisted off, turned 

 down, and clenched. These clenches should be first 

 raised, which the smith seldom takes the trouble 

 thoroughly to do ; but after going carelessly round 

 the crust, and raising one or two of the clenches, he 

 takes hold first of one heel of the shoe, and then of 

 the other, and by a violent wrench separates them 

 from the foot, and by a third wrench, applied to the 

 middle of the shoe, he tears it off. By this means he 

 must enlarge every nail hole, and weaken the future 

 hold, and sometimes tear off portions of the crust, 

 and otherwise injure the foot. The horse generally 

 shows by his flinching that he suffers by the violence 

 with which this preliminary operation is performed. 

 The clenches should always be raised or filed off; 



1 Here let us recommend Mr. Miles's treatise on the foot of 

 ■the horse to the especial attention of sportsmen and horse masters 

 generally. It is a most sensible work. 



