SHOEING. . 529 



By thus placing the animal alone in a stall, we not only 

 compel him to remain inactive, but do violence to the 

 nature of the beast. Horses when free always roam in 

 herds. They are naturally fond of one another's society. 

 But if a horse within a stable endeavours to put his nose 

 over the division, just to have a nibble, a lick, or a smell at 

 his next door neighbour, he commits an egregious fault in* 

 the eyes of the groom, and receives the whip accordingly. 

 Thus he must stand alone in utter solitude, and remain 

 thus standing, perhaps, days together ; for when the owner 

 does not always ride out, the groom is not invariably regu- 

 lar with regard to the hours of exercise. The poor animal 

 stands upon metal, which rests upon wet stones or bricks. 

 It is denied to him to look to the ri^ht or the left. To q:o 

 much forward is impossible, and to hang back the length 

 of his halter is visited as an offence against decency. He 

 must not, to break the monotony of his existence, even 

 raise his eye to look at, or to invite the acquaintance of his 

 neighbour. In the stall he must be content to breathe and 

 feed, but in all other respects, the nearer he approaches to 

 the inanimate the better. And all this must be done, 

 despite the teaching of physiology, which instructs us that 

 the horse was intended for constant motion. Beneath the 

 horny box which covers the foot, is a mesh-work of veins 

 which, unlike the majority of vessels in the living frame, 

 have no valves. The blood within these veins has to as- 

 cend against gravity, but it has no machinery to assist it in 

 its course. 



Now, if the horse were free, he would walk about ; or if 

 he stood still beneath the shadow of some wide-spreading 

 tree, he would select uneven ground, upon the highest part 

 of which he could place his hind feet. Yet he would sel- 

 dom be quite tranquil : he must walk to nip the grass upon 

 which he existed. His feet in this state would be alternately 

 lifted from the earth, and then placed again upon the 

 ground. By this simple motion a kind of pumping action 

 would be established, which would effectually empty the 

 external vessels beneath the horn of the foot. When the 

 hoof was raised, the blood would gush into the veins be- 

 neath it; but when it was again placed down, and the 

 immense weight of the horse's body rested upon the foot, 



M m 



