326 
V ETER 1 N A R Y J U RISPRUDENC E. 
James Smith . — I have been groom to Mr. Maxwell twenty years. 1 re- 
member a chestnut horse coming to Everingham on the 25th of November, 
lie was a dark chestnut, and was brought by Mr. Morris’s groom. He was 
knee-capped, and appeared to have been brought with care. The 25th was 
on Saturday ; the horse was not out on the Sunday ; but on Monday morning, 
between five and six, he went out into the park. I rode another horse, 
and the groom rode the chestnut. In the park I got on the horse, and 
cantered him on the grass ; I afterwards trotted him both on the grass and 
road. 1 did not like his going ; he was stilty and groggy, and stepped very 
short. I mentioned this to Mr. Maxwell. On the same day 1 sent for William 
Barnard, the blacksmith, who has shod horses for Mr. Maxwell for eight or 
nine years. I saw the shoes taken off*, but they did not appear to be new 
shoes ; they were most worn at the toe. A horse that goes stilty wears the 
toe more than the heel. When the shoes were taken off*, the off-fore foot 
was a little heated : the shoes produced are those which were taken off*. 
The shape of the foot was a little contracted inwards towards the heel. 
The nails on the outside of the off* fore shoe did not come so near to the 
heel, by an inch, as the inside nails. This is not usual in shoeing sound 
horses : generally speaking, the nails come nearer on the outside than the 
inside. The shoes were put on the horse on Monday. On Tuesday I sent 
the horse by Thomas Sikes to Thorp Arch ; Sikes rode another horse, and 
led the chestnut. The horse appeared groggy on leaving the stable. I did 
not see him again until Tuesday the 5th, a week afterwards. The horse was 
then in good health and condition. On Sunday, the 10th, he went to Be- 
verley : in the interval he was not worked, but was exercised in the park. 
He was led to Beverley by Sikes. When he came out of the stable he was 
rather groggy, and stilty in his legs ; but this went off* when he got into the 
park : he was a good feeder, and in all other respects a healthy horse. The 
horse was regularly exercised while he remained in Mr. Maxwell’s stables, 
and no accident occurred On the 28th I led the horse to York, and left 
him at the Windmill, Mr. Crummack’s. The horse was then in good con- 
dition. 
Cross-examined . — The horse was in high condition when he came in No- 
vember. He was shod on Monday, about 11 o’clock. He had been out 
previously. I told Mr. Maxwell that he was stilty, and that I did not like 
his going. The animal was shod at our stables, and when the shoes were 
taken off a name was put on them. The shoes came back into my possession 
about five days after, and I have had them ever since. The horse might have 
been shod two or three days previous ; but if so, the old shoes had been put on 
again. When a blacksmith puts on an old shoe he does not put it in the fire 
and work it up again, at all events not with our hunters. I can tell by the 
appearance of the foot whether a horse has been recently shod. I did not 
observe any thing in the foot of this horse to lead me to suppose that he had. 
1 did not examine the horse for that purpose. Hunters and roadsters arc 
shod in a different manner. In the former the heel of the shoe s*ops short 
of the natural heel, as there is not so much pressure on the heel in riding 
over the country as upon the road. Another reason why it stops short at the 
heel is, that it may not catch any thing. A horse might be perfectly sound, 
and still wear his shoes more at the toe than the heel. He went to Thorp 
Arch on Tuesday, the day after he was shod. The distance is about thirty 
miles, and he would have to go on the road in his new shoes. Mr. Maxwell 
may be fifteen or sixteen stone : perhaps he would ride sixteen or seventeen 
stone. It is a fair weight for a horse, but nothing particular. On Sunday 
the 10th, he went to Beverley. Monday was the meet, and on Tuesday he 
came back. He was out exercising every day before he came to York. He 
