180 THE HINTING FIELD 



temier, or the horse is to be examined for lameness, each nail 

 should be partly punched out. Many a stub is left in the 

 crust, the source of future annoyance, when this unnecessary 

 violence is used." 



His lordship shows himself to be an accurate observer, and 

 to have profited by his sporting pursuits, albeit followed in 

 France, not the likeliest country for sporting science. No 

 doubt the horse does flinch — na\-, we have heard them give a 

 sort of groan, not unlike the sound emitted by a man catching 

 up his foot on having his corn trod upon. 



The man-shoer and the horse-shoer occupy similar stations 

 in the biped and quadrupedal world, though the latter have, 

 perhaps, the best of it, in their exemption from the abuse 

 invariably lavished on a misfitting, uneasyfitting " snob." Let 

 a man think of the misery he has endured from the uneasy, 

 uneven pressure of a tight boot, and he will surely have some 

 consideration for the comfort of his horse. There is in horse- 

 shoeing precisely the same discomfort, without absolute lame- 

 ness, that there is in human shoeing, and it is that discomfort 

 that a careless, off-hand sort of fellow never discovers. A 

 man with a head, and eyes in that head, can see by the way a 

 horse stands in his stall whether he is comfortable or not ; 

 but many fellows will get on their backs and ride them eight 

 or ten miles without feeling that they are not going in their 

 usual form, which a master discovers the moment he mounts, 

 these are the cast-iron, wooden-headed class of servants, 

 " Grooms" we will not call them, who have no more feeling 

 or sympathy with horses than hedge-stakes. They go lob, lob, 

 lobbing along without thought or care, save how to get there, 

 and how to get back. Notwithstanding the great improvement 

 that has taken place within the last twenty years in the style of 

 country blacksmiths, and the manner of country shoeing, there 

 is still ample room for further advancement. There is still as 

 much difference between the skilfully town-shod horse, and the 



