Page:Horses and roads.djvu/135

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119

CHAPTER XIII.

‘ABERLORNA’S ’. SECOND LETTER IN ‘FARM JOURNAL’—HIS SECOND HORSE SHOD WITH TIPS—PUTTIXG ON TIPS—HIS EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH AMERICA OF THE EXUBERANCE OF GROWTH OF HORN AND ITS TOUGHNESS, IN UNSHOD HORSES—SHOD HORSES GO LAME OVER GOOD ROADS, WHILST THE UNSHOD ONES GO SOUND OVER THOSE OF THE VERY WORST DESCRIPTION—IGNORANCE OF PEOPLE IN ENGLAND OF THE NATURE OF A HORSE’S FOOT—‘THE LANCET’ ON THE INDEFENSIBILITY, IN A PHYSIOLOGICAL LIGHT, OF THE USE OF HORSESHOES—SUCCESS OF TWO GENTLEMEN IN WORKING UNSHOD HORSES IN ENGLAND—NEWSPAPER COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE SLIPPING OF HORSES, AND STOPPAGE OF TRAFFIC ON LUDGATE HILL—THE FALSE LIGHT IN WHICH SLIPPING IS LOOKED AT.

The second letter of ‘Aberlorna’ is most interesting.[1] This gentleman is evidently thinking things out for himself faster than these chapters can carry him. In the common interest it may be well to go over his letter somewhat in detail. His successful, although rather severe, trial must ‘set a good many people thinking,’ especially when they see that within the fortnight he has been so encouraged by the result obtained that he has subjected another horse to similar treatment, only using this time a three-quarter shoe, with the intention of reducing

  1. See Appendix C.