HORSES AND THEIR FEET. 



BY SIR GEO. W. COX. 



If we say that of all brute animals none is more 

 valuable to man than the horse, and that the neglect 

 of any means which may promote and ensure his 

 welfare and efficiency is a blunder not easily distin- 

 guishable from crime, we may fairly be charged with 

 uttering truisms. If we urge that this value is not 

 recognized as it should be, and that this neglect is 

 miserably common, we may still be accused of wasting 

 breath on statements which no one would think of 

 calling into question. Every one, we may be told, 

 is well aware that the management of horses is very 

 faulty, that their lives are shortened by the ignorance 

 of those who have charge of them rather than by 

 any wanton cruelty, and that they are rendered prac- 

 tically useless long before their existence is brought 

 to an end. To the plea that the same, or much the 

 same, things may be said of m^n as of horses, we 

 may answer that the blame must be apportioned to 

 the degree of carelessness with which evils affecting 

 either men or horses are allowed to go on unchecked 

 or are foolishly dealt with ; nor can failures to im- 

 prove the condition of mankind furnish a reason for 



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