238 BAD TO SHOE. 



properly applied, I will refer to its effects upon a few 

 special cases. 



At Bellows Falls, Vt., a paper-maker owned a fine 

 horse, which, though otherwise very gentle, was extremely 

 hard to shoe. A traveling horseman of much experience 

 and a great deal of pretension, visited the place and made 

 a small class. The owner, wishing to have his horse 

 broken, brought him in to be experimented upon. Ac- 

 cording to the gentleman's statement to me, this man 



FIG. 187. Pulling the foot back to test the horse's submission. 



worked with the horse about half a day, injuring him 

 very severely, in the owner's language, "almost killed 

 him." The result of it all was that the horse beat the 

 man completely, and was more reckless and determined in 

 his opposition than before. I requested the gentleman to 

 let me see the horse. Upon examination, I found him to be 

 finely bred, naturally gentle, but if excited or badly man- 

 aged he would be extremely difficult to control. I told 

 the owner we would have no difficulty at all with the 

 horse, and succeeded in rendering him perfectly gentle in 

 about fifteen minutes. 



