1 68 HORSES. 



from which the hoof originates, analogous to the soft 

 core of hollow horns and the matrix of nails." 



BAREFOOTED SPEEDERS. 



[New York Sun, December, 15, 1883.] 



" Those in favor of letting horses go without shoes will be 

 pleased to learn that Anteeo, a California four-year-old by 

 Electioneer, wearing only tips weighing four ounces, trotted 

 a mile in 2:23, the last half in i:io)4, and the track was not 

 considered very good either. There can be no severer test for 

 horses* feet than speed at the trotting gait, and 2:23 is still 

 regarded as pretty good speed." 



The weight of testimony is everywhere in favor of 

 non-shoeing for farm horses, and all horses, in fact, 

 doing light work or that are working under so- 

 called favorable conditions. I make the above asser- 

 tion advisedly ; for, as the thief was convicted of till- 

 tapping upon the evidence of a single witness to his 

 crime, in spite of his protestation that he *' could find 

 twenty men who did not see him. take the money," so 

 the evidence of men who have tried the non-shoeing 

 plan will hold, despite the fact that the masses, and 

 even the great body of horsemen, have not seen the 

 advantages of the reform in question. But, the 

 author claims that under almost every conceivable 

 condition of work, horses reared to the system, and 

 properly handled, and horses at any age who can 

 have a reasonable time to undo the mischief of shoeing, 

 and toughen their feet, will be benefited out and out 

 by being left to their natural resources. The above 

 clipping from the Skji affords proof that a gait of 2:21 

 is not destructive to a horse's hoofs. It would doubt- 

 less be far easier for Anteeo's owner to decide upon 



