A SINGULAR INFLUENCE. 49' 



capital, and yet the value of tliese, which are kept for the sole pur- 

 pose of trotting in races, falls far short of that which the road-horses 

 of the country represent. Speed and endurance give the worth to the 

 first; speed is the most valuable quality in the second, provided it is 

 not accompanied by habits which render the speed useless, or by such 

 unsoundness as unfits the animal for rapid driving. So long as there 

 is not absolute lameness, a majority of the owners of fast I'oad-horses 

 ai'e satisfied. A large number of them have so little knowledge of 

 the horse's foot that they cannot tell whether it is in proper shape 

 or not, and trust entirely to the blacksmith and groom for the treat- 

 ment. Unfortunately, a large proportion of this class of men are 

 not only ignorant of the pathology and functions of the foot, but an 

 immense percentage of them are bigoted in the belief of the efiiciency 

 of old-time pi'actices, and too stubborn in this belief to surrender it. 

 They will not listen to argument, and any departures from the old 

 ruts, deeply worn by prejudice, are stigmatized as innovations which 

 ai"e bound to bring disaster. 



These men have an influence over owners which is as singular as 

 it is potent. A gentleman may require that his family physician be 

 educated in the latest teachings of the schools, and will only employ 

 one who has forsaken the old-time practices for a more enlightened 

 system of treatment. In any department of business he will give 

 the preference to education, and readily acknowledges the importance 

 of thought and study in every department of life where learning can 

 be brought to bear. But with horses it is different. Isfnorance is not 

 considered a bar, and he follows the directions of a man whose only 

 recommendation is that he is acquainted with the stable economy 

 which was practiced a hundred years ago. The feet are mutilated at 

 the forge, the groom stuffs them ^vith filth, or at the best with com- 

 positions which soak the horn into a pulp, and what Nature designed 

 to be a firm support, and to have solidity, is weakened by the removal 

 of that which gave sti-ength, and the natural and firm foundation is 

 changed, by erroneous treatment, into a tottering pedestal. The feet 

 injured, the legs give way, and then the poor animal is tortured with 

 virulent blisters ; but as these corrosive vesicants compel rest, in 

 that way the animal is benefited, and if his tormentor woxild let him 



