POINTS. 425 



one part than at another ; if the horse, being a nag, should wear very 

 high calkins ; if the toe be shortened, or one side of the metal is ob- 

 viously narrowed, — it denotes precautions against clicking and against 

 overreaching : the first being a most audible annoyance, which may lead 

 to the forcible tearing away a fore shoe ; and the last causing a fearfuli 

 a terrible, and an incapacitating wound upon the heel of the foreleg 

 Also, should the toe of the hind shoe be ground down, while the heel 

 exhibits no obvious wear, the fact demonstrates the existence of a 

 spavin. Either clicking, overreaching, or spavin is legitimate cause for 

 rejection. 



The reader, from a perusal of the foregoing remarks, will comprehend 

 a few of the diflBculties which beset the purchaser of a horse ; and these 

 may warn him, in some measure, of the dangers that surround a person 

 so engaged. The author is a veterinary surgeon, of some experience ; 

 but he would be very sorry to buy a steed for himself upon his unsup- 

 ported opinion. He would always have the animal examined by a pro- 

 fessional man ere the purchase was concluded. How greatly, therefore, 

 must the general public stand in need of such protection ! Especially 

 when the known hazard of the transaction and the confusion necessarily 

 accompanying a direct personal interest in the business help to confound 

 the intellect and to overpower the judgment ! 



All persons complain of the roguery that is mixed up with horse 

 dealing. The complaint is just; but it is not just that the public should 

 vent it. It is the general abuse and the inhuman treatment to which 

 animal life is subjected that renders such practices necessary. The cru- 

 elty and the roguery are associated as closely as cause and effect. Let 

 the provocative be discarded, and its result, of course, must cease. But 

 no man should blame the conduct which his own deeds have willfully 

 generated. To hurt and to injure a patient and an obedient animal is a 

 positive sin, — a violation of the trust confided by the Creator to the 

 creature. To defraud, in a money transaction, is simply a crime, — an 

 offense committed upon the laws by man established over man. Then, 

 what right has he who violates one of the ordinizations of nature, to 

 point at and to sigh over the person who merely breaks a human insti- 

 tution ? 



Christianity, if its benefits were exemplified in man's actions toward 

 the creatures living under his dominion, would immediately operate upon 

 society. The horse, under better treatment, would of course not be Ua- 

 ble to those injuries and accidents which roguery in the dealer merely 

 endeavors to conceal. There would be no occasion for cheating when 

 the creature exhibited no scar or defect which the seller was interested 

 to hide or to deny. Thus one stain upon the present civilization would 



