that the feet of every horse in his regiment should be stopped twice a week during the summer to keep their feet soft, because the roads are so hard.’
It is refreshing when we find cavalry officers not bound by red tape. But as regards that twenty-year-old unshod pony, unbelievers will immediately say that he only had to carry children (from one to three probably), and so he stands for nothing as a proof. But let some of these unbelievers be asked for the loan of a pony for children’s use, and then we should find them refusing it, because, as they would say (inwardly), ‘they know how children knock ponies about,’ which is really true. The remainder of the letter coincides strikingly with a great deal that has been insisted upon in these chapters; still, for the generality of people, this letter may almost as well have remained unwritten—it is so hard to make horse-owners believe that thereremains anything for them yet to learn!
