152 HORSES AND ROADS. 



themselves from performing. Mayhew says : — * It 

 obviously is folly for mortal pride to contend against 

 those organisations which govern the universe. How- 

 ever, in the case of exercising power over the horse, 

 centuries of defeat and ages of loss seem incapable 

 of causing mankind to relinquish a hopeless struggle. 

 The strife has been going forward almost from 

 the commencement of time ; nevertheless, human 

 beings, though always beaten, press onward to perpe- 

 tuate the contest. They scorn to retreat, and will 

 suffer rather than own a victor ; they will not, to 

 make an advantageous peace, desert a silly custom 

 or discard an ancient usage. They can sustain 

 punishment ; they can endure chastisement ; but, 

 like land crabs, when once upon the march, they 

 cannot deviate from the line which they have 

 adopted. They can abuse the master, but they can- 

 not listen to the instructor. " Nature," men exclaim 

 in chorus, " is very stubborn." " Horse property," 

 respond another gang of culpables, " is particularly 

 hazardous ! " All this noise, however, might at any 

 moment be avoided, if the human race would only 

 stoop to employ a little reflection. If man would not 

 fight quite so obstinately, but merely think over the 

 cause of combat, he might possibly be a gainer in 

 happiness, as luell as in pocket.^ 



Thus speaks Mayhew; but, unfortunately, he 

 does not appear to have even tried the simple and 

 inexpensive experiment of seeing what a horse might 

 do without shoes. He had always been told that 

 shoes of some sort were a necessity, and he took it 



