218 UNASKED ADVICE. 



indeed, the prevalent idea of the groom and the black- 

 smith seems to be that they know better what a horse's foot 

 should be than the Creator of the animal does. For they 

 are never satisfied until they have altered the natural 

 foot into a form of their own, which they think the right 

 one ; and, though lameness usually attends their efforts, 

 they ascribe it to every cause but the right one, and, indeed, 

 resign themselves complacently to the presence of many 

 diseases confessedly caused by their treatment, perhaps 

 because these diseases do not hurt their own sacred per- 

 sons ! It is really curious to observe in all that has been 

 written about the horse's foot the sort of follow-my- 

 leader principle, which is more evident here than in 

 writing on any other subject with which I am acquainted. 

 Very, very seldom is an original idea to be found, and 

 still more seldom an original idea that is not marred by 

 some adherence to the old grooves to which preceding 

 authors have confined themselves. The oddest notion, 

 .and the one which has held its ground in undisputed 

 security until lately, is the idea that the sole of a horse's 

 foot requires paring. And almost all writers have 

 insisted on the necessity of this operation. The late 

 Mr. Apperly (" Nimrod ") was by far the most practical 

 writer on horses of the last hundred years or more. He 

 wrote from personal experience, not from theory, and he 

 taught us most of what we know at the present day as to 

 the condition of hunters. He it was who first proved the 

 absurdity of turning the hunter out to grass in the 

 summer. He also demonstrated the necessity of giving 

 periodical doses of medicine to the horse during the 

 process of conditioning. In short, although his use of 

 drugs and medicines appears to have been somewhat 

 excessive, his book is a very useful study for the young 



