122 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



the effect tliat he drives a barefooted horse eight miles daUy. Now, 

 I know by exiDerience that light work — say eight or nine miles 

 daily — may be done by a barefooted horse, supposing his feet to be 

 good hard ones ; but that is mere exercise. Work is another thing. 

 In no known part of the globe are horses able to work unshod, at 

 any rate in front, on hard ground. In ancient times slippers were 

 worn by horses and mules before shoes were invented. The want, 

 though not supplied, made itself felt. 



Nowadays we hear a great deal of South American horses, Indian 

 ponies and the like. As a matter of fiict these unshod horses in- 

 habit districts where they never encounter a stone. Put them to 

 work on rocky ground, and they are either shod or lamed. A friend 

 of mine, lately returned from America, tells me that, though the 

 horses were unshod on the plains, when a march over rocky ground 

 (the Andes, for example) was contemplated, the same horses were 

 shod with a shoe of raw oxhide. These shoes last about a week, by 

 which time the mountains are generally crossed, and the soft plains 

 regained. Pack mules seldom, if ever, require this protection to 

 their feet ; but even with them exceptions exist to prove the i-ule. 

 And apropos of barefooted steeds, I may observe that they decidedly 

 slip more on greasy ground with a hard substratum than horses with 

 shoes or tips. A barefooted horse is far moi'e pleasant to ride, to 

 my mind, than a shod one — so long, that is to say, as he can go 

 comfortably ; but I do not know that he is more pleasant than when 

 shod with light tips. I have not, howevex-, given a fair trial to tips 

 behind, although I mean doing so, as what experiments I have ven- 

 tured on have been satisfactory. 



To return to the insecure foothold of the bare foot. Example : 

 In the beginning of the present season I was riding a horse out 

 hunting with no shoes behind at all. The day was pouring wet 

 after a spell of dry weather ; the country, an ex-rural provincial. 

 My troubles began at a bank, my horse's hind feet flying somewhere 

 under his girths, and landing him on his tail, in luckily so trifling 

 a ditch that, although we emerged with a most unbecoming scramble, 

 we did emerge without dissolution of partnership. I tried to con- 

 sole myself with the thought that my flier had a soul above cramped 



