THE BLACKSMITH 189 



and where the foot is tender, or the horse is to be 

 examined for lameness, each nail should be partly 

 punched out. Many a stub is left in the crust, the 

 source of future annoyance, when this unnecessary 

 violence is used." 



His lordship shows himself to be an accurate 

 observer, and to have profited by his sporting pur- 

 suits, albeit followed in France, not the likeliest 

 country for sporting science. No doubt the horse 

 does flinch — nay, we have heard them give a sort of 

 groan, not unlike the sound emitted by a man catch- 

 ing up his foot on having his corn trod upon. 



The man-shoer and the horse-shoer occupy similar 

 stations in the biped and quadrupedal world, though 

 the latter have, perhaps, the best of it, in their exemp- 

 tion from the abuse invariably lavished on a misfitting, 

 uneasyfitting "snob." Let a man think of the misery 

 he has endured from the uneasy, uneven pressure of 

 a tight boot, and he will surely have some considera- 

 tion for the comfort of his horse. There is in horse- 

 shoeing precisely the same discomfort, without absolute 

 lameness, that there is in human shoeing, and it is 

 that discomfort that a careless, off-hand sort of fellow 

 never discovers. A man with a head, and eyes in 

 that head, can see by the way a horse stands in his 

 stall whether he is comfortable or not; but many 

 fellows will get on their backs and ride them eight 

 or ten miles without feeling that they are not going 

 in their usual form, which a master discovers the 

 moment he mounts. These are the cast-iron, wooden- 

 headed class of servants, " Grooms " we will not call 

 them, who have no more feeling or sympathy with 

 horses than hedge stakes. They go lob, lob, lobbing 

 along without thought or care, save how to get there, 

 and how to get back. Notwithstanding the great 

 improvement that has taken place within the last 

 twenty years in the style of country blacksmiths, and 

 the manner of country shoeing, there is still ample 



