42 RATIONAL HORSE-SHOEING. 



old at an age when they should he in the 

 fullest activity. This is a double loss, for 

 every horseman of experience knows that if 

 an old horse is sound and vigorous he has 

 some great advantages over a young one. 

 He is safer in every respect, " way- wise," 

 seasoned, steady, and reliable. He and his 

 owner are old friends and companions and 

 can not part but with a pang of regret. A 

 good horse, well cared for, should work cheer- 

 fully until he is thirty years of age ; yet how 

 few are able to perform genteel service after 

 fifteen ! It is a sad sight that of the high- 

 mettled, noble animal, once the petted darling 

 of wealth, caressed by ladies and children, 

 and guarded so that even the winds of heaven 

 might not visit him too roughly, fallen 

 through the successive grades of equine deg- 

 radation, until at last he hobbles before a clam- 

 wagon or a swill-cart a sorry relic of better 

 days. 



The question is so plain that we hesitate to 

 argue with intelligent people to prove that, 

 if the old system of shoeing destroys the value 

 of a horse in middle life, half his money value 



