AND HO"W TO KEEP IT SOUND. 89 



the poor horse : and perhaps, while the question rested solely 

 upon that ground, the groom might be in some degree ex- 

 cused for striking the balance between his trouble and the 

 horse's enjoyment in his own favor; but now that the 

 blessing of sound feet is shown to be involved in it, there 

 can be very few grooms, indeed none worthy the name of 

 groom, who would not willingly incur twice as much trouble 

 to secure such a benefit to their horses: and, when horse- 

 masters once become thoroughly alive to the importance of 

 this matter, — when they remember that the natural life cf a 

 horse is from thirty-five to forty years, and that three- 

 fourths of them die or are destroyed under twelve years 

 old — used up, with scarcely a foot to go upon, — I take it 

 they will be very apt to transfer their sympathies from the 

 groom and his trouble to their own pockets and their horse's 

 welfare. 



The apathy which prevails upon this subject, and checks 

 any thing like energetic and well-directed efforts towards 

 amending the treatment of the horse, is attributable to the 

 false notion, which is too commonly entertained, that if a 

 horse performs his work moderately well for five or six 

 years, he has done all that could reasonably have been ex- 

 pected from him ; and therefore, as the phrase goes, " he 

 owes his master nothing." It is quite true that five or six 

 years' labor is an ample return for the treatment received by 

 most horses ; but when they have been the subjects of judi- 

 cious management, double the length of service may fairly 

 be expected from them, — indeed, any thing short of that 

 period should be considered as leaving them their master's 

 debtor. 



A favorite arorument with that numerous class, who are 

 contented to follow in the track of their neighbors, is — that 

 horses have always been kept in stalls : therefore, say they, 

 it cannot hurt them. This is very like the argument about 

 skinning eels. Custom may proclaim them to be used to it ; 

 but each individual experiences the selfsame torture as its 

 predecessor, whether it be the eel deprived of its skin, or the 

 horse of the soundness of its foot. Unluckily, the prog- 

 ress of disease in the horse's foot is, for the most part, so 

 gradual, as to escape the notice of common observers almost 

 entirely, until it is forced upon their attention in the form of 

 palpable lameness, when the real cause is naturally enough 

 overlooked in the desire to fix it upon some recent occur- 

 rence. If the advocates for continuing the use of stalls will 



