THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 129 



The small horses of the irregular cavalry at the Cape, 

 which took part in the battle of Ulundi, had no 

 shoes on their hind feet, and few were shod even in 

 front, but they held out longer and went miles farther 

 than the shod animals : and no complaints were made of 

 any of them falling lame, although, as " Free Lance " 

 adds, "■ sheets of wet slippery rock and rolling stones 

 in river beds would be calculated to try the hoofs to 

 the utmost." 



But it is scarcely necessary to cite more instances 

 of the vast benefits which those who have had the 

 courage to leave the feet of their horses as nature 

 made them have received under the most varied con- 

 ditions of work, of soil, and of climate. Humanity 

 and self-interest here point in the same direction, and 

 only folly of the most perverse kind will have the 

 hardihood to fight for the maintenance of the existing 

 system. The cruelties practiced (whether unwittingly, 

 or wantonly) on the horse's foot have been extended 

 over a series of generations, but the only penalty 

 which remains to be paid for the ill-doing of years is the 

 surrender of a few days or a few weeks of the labor of 

 the animal which has been thus misused. On the other 

 side, there is a certainty that we shall be entering on 

 a course which will triple the length of time over 

 which the efficiency of the horse^ will be extended, 

 and which therefore will, within twenty years, have 

 saved the nation a hundred and thirty-five millions 

 sterling. It will further ensure the immediate saving 

 of all the money now spent on farrier}^, and this 

 saving, which must be at the least forty shilings a year 

 6* 



