154 HORSES AND ROADS. 



animal and master, and so he tried to do without 

 them. He succeeded in cutting them down to their 

 smallest size ; and only his fear of hard roads — that 

 bete noire of the multitude — hindered him from 

 arriving at the point of his ambition. 



The following extract is taken from a letter 

 signed 'A Cavalry Officer,' which appeared in the 

 * Daily Telegraph,' of December 28, 1878. 'If people 

 tear off shoes, and put horses to work, or else turn 

 them to grass, they will fail. In such experiments 

 it is not the theory that has failed, but that it has 

 not been put to a practical test. I know a pony over 

 twenty years of age that has never been shod, and 

 has all its life been accustomed to be galloped 

 about by children on the hard roads. I have, my- 

 self, kept my horses shod with tips only, for eight 

 and ten months together, using them on hard roads 

 and paved streets, and keeping them, when in the 

 stable, standing on granite-paved stalls, without 

 litter under them, except by night. I found the 

 horn tougher, weak heels grow stronger, brittleness 

 of hoof disappear, and I never had a foot-lame horse 

 during the time named. I am satisfied that the 

 way to improve horses' feet is not by turning them 

 out in boggy meadows, but by removing their shoes, 

 and standing them on paved flooring. That a diver- 

 sity of opinion exists upon such matters amongst 

 veterinary surgeons I am well aware ; but I know 

 some who have served both at home, in India, and 

 elsewhere with their regiments, and who approve my 

 suggestions. I have heard another gravely insist 



