THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 12 \ 



ment of iron is followed by increased efficiency and 

 power of endurance on the part of the horse, as welj 

 as from a number of painful and highly injurious 

 diseases, the owner is directly and largely benefited in 

 more ways than one. His horses live in greater com- 

 fort, and for a longer time ; his veterinary surgeon's 

 bill and the outlay for medicine are greatly lessened, 

 and the costs of farriery disappear altogether. 



Farriers will of course complain that their occu- 

 pation is gone, and that they are ruined men ; but 

 little heed was paid to like pleas when they were 

 urged for the drivers and attendants of coaches and 

 coach horses when the first railways were constructed. 

 Matters will adjust themselves in this case as they 

 did in the other. But that the change can not be 

 effected in a day or a week, no one will venture to 

 . deny. The feet of horses are ordinarily treated, not 

 wantonly, but through ignorance, with a cruelty which 

 is simply shocking. With vast numbers of animals 

 which are not kept for purposes of drudgery and in 

 whose appearance their owners feel a pride, the hoof is 

 a mere wreck, and the sight of the mangled and split 

 hoof may well excite not merely pity, but wonder 

 that any can passively allow such evils to go on. A 

 few, however, will always be found with resolution 

 enough to shake off the fetters of traditionalism ; 

 and some of these have already expressed their 

 opinion with sufficient emphasis. One of these, 

 writing in November, 1878, says : 



" The argument against horseshoes seemed to me 

 so strong, and the convenience of doing without 

 6 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



