the danger of pricking the sensitive parts would be almost entirely done away with; and thus there would be much less of mutilation of the hoof.
Perhaps, after a time, some ladies may find their horses improved through the wearing of tips, and then some of them might be found willing to do away with them on the hind feet of their horses; and, if this were found a success, something more might suggest itself to them. But those who employ tips, even should they get no farther, will find their advantage in a week or two. They must not expect that those diseases of the bones, cartilages, or tendons which have been brought about by shoeing, if they are firmly established, can be entirely cured by the change; but their progress may be arrested; and, what is equally consoling, they will find by the ‘going’ of their horses under them, that the absence of inconvenience and pain in their feet and legs makes them more ‘springy,’ and, consequently, safer and easier to ride. Let them notice also the difference in the weight they throw on the bit after a while.
A horse adapted to carry a lady safely and with ease would be well suited for an elderly gentleman, or a timid or inexperienced rider of the plain sex.
Park hacks, it has already been conceded by authority, ‘would go more safely without shoes than with them, because shoes accumulate the soil.’ Evidently, it must also be unpleasant to have a compound of tan and manure thrown in one’s teeth by
