EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
243 
present expedition be such as are likely to be found the most 
suitable, and appropriate, not only should the nature of 
British horses 5 feet be kept in view, but the country whereto 
they are about to be transported for use ought to be con- 
sidered likewise — and deeply considered too : since the nature 
of the surface upon which horses are likely to have to perform 
their work, ought to be made a very primary considera- 
tion. The parts of the country likely to be the seat of 
operation, are said to be composed of light sandy soils, of the 
nature of the Asiatic desert ; countries in which our horse- 
shoes will be found far too strong and heavy, if not of a make 
unsuited for use in such ground. The Arabian or Persian 
form and make of shoe, will probably be found preferable. 
The simple reduction of weight alone of our English horse- 
shoe to a third or a half of its present bulk, would wonderfully 
facilitate its transport, either by the commissariat waggon or 
by the horses themselves ; and thus would of itself amount to a 
consideration of no mean importance. In regard to such a 
matter as this, however, it too frequently occurs, that horse- 
shoes, standing in the estimation of the authorities as matters 
of little import, or being left out of estimation altogether, 
fall, for their supply, into the hands of men who know little 
about them, and care less; and thus it happens that a cavalry 
composed of the finest horses in the world, are shod with the 
worst horse-shoes in the world ; and that the veterinary 
surgeons of regiments have no help or remedy for this, wdien 
they come to discover it, but to “ report upon them , 55 as 
“ bad and unfit for the service , 55 at an hour when they are in 
immediate requisition, and when the time is arrived that the 
horses can no longer work with the old shoes. In this want of 
preparation, matters are but too often carried on in our 
veterinary service : the fault seeming to lay in the neglect 
of that which, being everybody s duty , turns out to be carried 
into execution by nobody. 
Three of our military professional brethren — whose com- 
munications, we regret to say, are, “ like angels’ visits, few 
