THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 115 



will insist that unshod horses may move safely over 

 smooth and soft ground, but must fail when it is 

 rugged, and hard, and stony, or will be oppressed by 

 a vague dread that a horse which has gone well enough 

 without shoes for six months may break down in the 

 seventh. But even those who refuse to give up the 

 practice of shoeing will yet acknowledge its faulti- 

 ness, and wish that they could give it up without 

 risk. To all such we need only say that if they have 

 any regard for impartiality they are bound to consider 

 the arguments and the facts on which the conclusions 

 of " Free Lance " rest ; and most assuredly they will 

 find in his pages nothing which they may charge with 

 extravagance, rashness, and intolerance. They will 

 not be told that unless they abandon the system of 

 shoeing altogether they can effect no improvement 

 in the present state of things, or even that they must 

 hasten to change the old system for the new. On 

 the contrary, they will find that they are again and 

 again warned against imprudent haste, and are told 

 that a vast amount of good may be achieved even if 

 they never venture on leaving their horses' feet in a 

 state of nature. 



Of these arguments and facts it might be difficult 

 to determine which are the most important and sig- 

 nificant. Certain it is that our horses generally are 

 afflicted with a multitude of diseases which seize on 

 their legs and feet, and that lameness is everywhere 

 a cause of constant complaint and of loss of time 

 and money. The author is not speaking from theory 

 or from book, but takes his stand on an experience 



