THE horse's rescue. 85 



as possible. I well knew what would soon be the re- 

 sult. In a short time this poor, suffering horse fell fv 

 victim to that wonderful professor of great wisdom. 

 Mike had got so bad he could hardly hobble any 

 lono-er. Something: must be done. Mike was sent to 

 my shop with a written order from this skilful opera- 

 tor, giving directions how to shoe him, which I well 

 knew were all wrong. I told the hostler to take him 

 back and tell tliat man to send no more of his butch- 

 ered horses. I would not shoe them. " Tell Murt 

 Bennett," said I, "that when they all get through tor- 

 turing Mike I will remove the cause of his troubles 

 for^twenty-five dollars if you do not cut his cords off." 

 Of course that set them all howling. 



Eeader, you want to know what that order was. I 

 will tell you. It was " pare the toes down until they 

 bleed; cut none from the heels; shoe thick at heels; 

 thin at toe ; no corks." I have already written about 

 the condition of these feet inside caused by contrac- 

 tion. This order was to cut and trim the foot so it 

 would have the appearance of a colt's foot to look at, 

 although it did not say so in words. Eeader, would 

 that work? Would it remove the cause of that poor 

 horse's suffering ? I well knew it would not. I can 

 tell in advance what the result will be. Caused by 

 such work as that, on all contracted feet the cnp foot 

 suffers the most. The work was done on Mike's feet 

 by another sheer. I saw Mike tied to a post a short 

 time after, head down. His hair looked dead ; lie was 

 suffering ; his knees tipped and shaking. Mr. Bennett 

 came along. I called his attention to it. I told him 

 Mike would g:naw his feet in ten days. They had not 



