21 2 GENERAL TREATMENT OF HORSES. 



edge^ or the rim of the hinder shoe^ and not by the 

 toe, that the act of over-reaching was performed. 

 This was at first doubted, but experience has con- 

 firmed the assertion ; and we have reason to believe, 

 there has not been an instance of serious mischief 

 by cutting^ from an over-reach, since the inside 

 edge or rim has been rounded ofi" or bevelled. In- 

 deed, a moment's reflection would dispel all doubts 

 on the subject ; for the obtuse form of the toe of a 

 horse-shoe could not inflict the severe wounds we 

 have seen inflicted (often cutting ofi" part of the 

 fore-heel) ; whereas the inside rim of a worn shoe 

 is nearly as sharp as an ordinary knife. Besides, 

 the act is performed after the hinder-foot has over- 

 stepped the fore-foot, and therefore cannot be per- 

 formed by the toe, but in the act of drawing the 

 hinder-foot back, after it has overstridden its 

 bounds. Bruises, from over-reaches, still occur, 

 which, though sometimes serious, are compara- 

 tively, with cutting, harmless, as fomentation, and 

 a few days' rest, will eff'ect a cure. 



The writer concludes the subject of The Horse 

 with observing, that after a lapse of five years, 

 since the article was first written, he has found but 

 little necessary to add to it, and still less to retract. 

 In the seasons of 1839 and 1840, he spent several 

 weeks at Melton Mowbray, and at various other 

 places where the best hunters in England are to be 

 found ; and, with the following exception, he per- 

 ceived no alteration in the system of preparing 

 liorses for the hunting field, which has been ho- 

 noured with the appellation of " Nimrod's system."' 



