122 HORSES: 



them so great, that I resolved to try the experiment. 

 Accordingly, when my pony's shoes were worn out, I 

 had them removed, and gave him a month's rest at 

 grass, with an occasional drive of a mile or two on 

 the high-road while his hoofs were hardening. The 

 result at first seemed doubtful. The hoof was a thin 

 shell, and kept chipping away, until it had worn down 

 below the holes of the nails by which the shoes had 

 been fastened. After this the hoof grew thick and 

 hard, quite unlike what it had been before. I now 

 put the pony to full work, and he stands it well. 

 He is more sure-footed, his tread is almost noiseless, 

 and his hoofs know no danger from the rough hands 

 of the farrier, and the change altogether has been a 

 clear gain, without anything to set off against it. 

 The pony was between four and five years old, and 

 had been regularly shod up to the present year. He 

 now goes better without shoes than he ever did with 

 them." 



A well-known Cumberland farmer, writing about 

 the same time, speaks of a farm horse in his posses- 

 sion, which, having been lamed by a nail driven into 

 its foot, had been for many months in the hands of 

 the farrier. Tired out with this annoyance, the owner 

 had his shoes taken off and turned him out to pasture. 

 While still rather lame, the horse was set to work on 

 the land ; and he is now, we are told, " doing all sorts 

 of farm work, and dragging his load as well ars any 

 shod horse even over hard pavement." If judgment 

 based on knowledge is to carry weight, the question 

 would soon be settled. We have already seen the 



