38 HORSES AND ROADS. 



arms of the V the navicular bone is superposed. But 

 what does a farrier either know or care about that ? 

 Must not improved principles be the best, or else 

 why should they be called so ? To all your objections 

 he will only remark to your servant, behind your 

 back, that you are only fit to carry food to a bear ; 

 and in this the servant will give him reason, and they 

 will go and have a pint together, and laugh at you 

 over drinking it. They are a hard lot to deal with, 

 and that might be one of the reasons that so many 

 owners ' give it up.' When the shoeing of a horse 

 is left entirely in the hands of this brace of 

 worthies, he is generally found to come home ' go- 

 ing tender.' And small wonder ! Therefore, many 

 people send their horses to be shod a day or two 

 before sending them on a journey, with a prescience 

 of this ordinary state of things ; although the horses 

 are really still going tender then, but only themselves 

 are aware of it. 



If a horse wears away his shoe more in one place 

 than in another, the farrier is sure to thicken the 

 next shoe he puts on in that particular place ; or, if 

 he considers himself a real artist, and has the time 

 or is not shoeing by contract (contract-shoeing is an 

 additional curse for the horse), he will weld in a 

 piece of steel to prevent the wear on that particular 

 part. If the horse wears calks, he is almost certain 

 to wear down the toe and one calk. This, of course, 

 is only the perverseness of the horse, if you choose 

 to listen to the groom and farrier. They cannot 

 perceive or conceive that the horse is driven or forced, 



