70 THE HORSE. 



seem that, unless there subsisted a ductility in the 

 iron, the expansion of the hoof would draw the nails. 



I have never had the presumption to class myself 

 with the learned professional, and, in offering my 

 opinion on the point at issue, I merely state the 

 dicta of the little common sense I may possess, and 

 of a long series of practical experience and observa- 

 tion. Expansion, or no expansion, stern necessity 

 decides that the hoofs of English horses, bevond all 

 others, m ust be fast bound with iron shoes. But I 

 deny, on the ground of established fact, the necessity 

 of this theoretical species of expansion. The hinder 

 feet, it is acknowledged, evince no need of it, and the 

 same must be conceded to well shod and sound fore 

 feet, which universally outlast the fore legs of our 

 horses exposed to severe labour. I yesterday exa- 

 mined the legs and feet of a Welsh mare, upwards of 

 fifteen hands high, and mistress of full eighteen stone, 

 nearly which weight she has usually carried. Her 

 pastern joints were hot and swollen, and the sinews 

 of the tendon had obviously lost much of their 

 natural tone, but her heels, bars, frogs, and soles 

 were solid as oak, and had, hitherto, evidently defied 

 the utmost that iron, the farrier, and the hard road 

 could accomplish towards an impediment to their 

 reproduction and their natural soundness. Had I 

 the means, equal to the inclination, I would establish 

 a breeding stud in Wales. 



But our stage and post horses, under that most 

 cruel and inhuman labour to which they are exposed, 

 afford the most general, striking, and decisive exam- 

 ples of the fact I have propounded. Granting them 



