THE horse's rescue. 133 



Billy he could have been cured very easily. I tried to 

 get this horse. Some weeks after I liad a little talk 

 with Hiram. He said he would give one hundred dol- 

 lars to have him cured. 1 told him I would cure him 

 for that. I thought at that time I would be able to 

 get him soon. I was very anxious. He was going on 

 from bad to worse, which I well knew. I visited him 

 often; it worried me verv much. I did all that was in 

 'my power to get this horse to cure. I finally gave 

 it up. I watched Billy the same as I had others I 

 was at work on — one belonging to a lady. She was 

 an agent for sewing machines, and traveled on the 

 road. A Mr. Wright took care of her horse, which 

 was a six-year-old roan pony. He had got to 

 be such a cripple on his forward feet he could hardly 

 hobble. With all the wisdom Horseheads contained, 

 they could not tell what ailed the horse, neither could 

 they get him out of his trouble; but they could call 

 me a brag and a damned old fool. It does not take a 

 very smart man to do that, and I got lots of that kind 

 of music. They could do that easier than they could 

 cure horses. All that ailed this horse was that his feet 

 were all cut oS. ; that is, the shell was nearly all cut 

 off. His feet were not of the natural size. He was 

 on his base. His feet were not contracted. He was 

 ironed down solid, and was very sore, caused by this 

 botch-work. I soon got him out of his trouble by 

 D-ivin"^ his feet room and packing them. In a short 

 time he liad his natund feet, and sailed all i-ight. I 

 told Mr, Wright he must keep his feet sofr. I did not 

 mean soak his feet all of the time when he was in the 

 stable. All at once this horse became dead lame 



