THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 333 



presents a surface of four square feet. Hence the body of a horse 

 rests upon sixteen square feet of surface within the hoof. 



The hoof, we have already observed, serves as a defence to the 

 sensitive parts within. It varies in size and thickness according 

 to the age and condition of the animal. Its texture may be ren- 

 dered hard or soft by the judicious application of therapeutic 

 agents. Its conformation may be altered, for better or worse, by 

 proper attention to the laws of animal life, stable management, 

 and skilful shoeing. 



When we see a poor dumb brute driven, hobbling along on 

 three legs, to the nearest blacksmith's shop, with a view of dis- 

 covering the seat of lameness, and there subjected to the inquisi- 

 torial process of pinching,* we have almost wished that the poor 

 horse could exchange places with his tormentors. If the culti- 

 vators of human medicine had adopted this brutal method of 

 diagnosing a disease, it would have been natural to suppose that 

 they were qualifying themselves as butchers. 



Some people seem to suppose that a horse's foot is as insensi- 

 ble as a stone ; and when we see the smith wrenching off the 

 shoes, often bringing away a portion of the hoof with them, and 

 cutting off large pieces with as little care as a man would trim a 

 log, then applying a red-hot shoe to the part, withcut any regard 

 to the feelings of the animal, — under these circumstances it would 

 appear to justify the conclusion that the foot is, really, insuscep- 

 tible to feeling. 



Many of our readers have, probably, had occasion to deplore 

 the present barbarous system of shoeing. Dear-bought experi- 

 ence may have taught them a lesson which they are not likely to 

 forget. The Hon. M. P. Wilder, in a letter to the author on this 

 subject, remarks, " I know of no greater evidence of inhumanity 

 to that noble animal, the horse, than the almost universal custom 

 of paring down the foot and burning on the shoe. It has ever, to 

 my mind, been among the barbarisms of the age, and which I 

 trust will no longer be countenanced by civilized society. I sym- 

 pathize with your efforts to correct this, and other equally 



* Which consists in grasping the foot between the points of a pair of pincers, 

 and applying them vigorously to every part of the hoof until a tender spot is 

 found, (produced !) 



