76 THE MULE. 



fact until it is too late. Now there is nothing more 

 easy than to ruin a mule by letting his toes grow 

 too long. Doctor L. H. Braley, chief veterinary sur- 

 geon of the army, is now developing a plan for 

 shoeing mules, which I consider the very best that has 

 been suggested. His treatment of the foot when well, 

 and how to keep it so ; and how to treat the foot by 

 shoeing when it becomes injured, is the best that can 

 be adopted. 



No. 13 is a mule that has been worked in a two-mule 

 train which has been in my charge for about a 

 year. She was previously worked in a six-mule train, 

 as the off- wheel mule. She is five years old, rising ; 

 size, fifteen hands and three inches high, and weighs 

 fourteen hundred and twenty-two pounds. She was 

 received into the Government service at Wheeling, 

 "Virginia, and when shipped or transferred to this depot, 

 with four hundred others, was but two years old, rising 

 three. She was worked, at least a year or more, too 

 young ; and to this cause I attribute certain injuries 

 w^hich I shall speak of hereafter. This mule, with two 

 hundred others, was transferred to the Army of the Poto- 

 mac, and went through its campaigns from 1864 up to the 

 fall of Eichmond. She is an excellent worker, and her 

 neck, head, and fore shoulders are as fine as can be. 

 Indeed, they are a perfect development of the horse. 

 But her hips or flank joints are very deficient. Owing 

 to her being worked too young, the muscles of the hind 

 legs have given way, and they have become crooked. 

 This is done frequently by the animal being placed as 

 a wheeler when too young, and holding back under a 



