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 Rh that. What is meant is that an unshod horse, or even one wearing tips, never hits his leg with the opposing foot; one reason for this being because he wears away his heels in their proper economical ratio and form, and thus gets a natural ‘tread.’ Nature never meant him to knock himself about so awkwardly at every step. Cutting is always accompanied by deterioration of action, and diminution of speed, and then all his defection is reckoned up together, and the unfortunate horse (instead of his master) is put down as a ‘rip,’ although he may perhaps be only a victim of routine.

The eye of ’fashion’ too often looks through that of its coachman when estimating action, and thus it has become callous, so to speak, and insensible to the elegance of the natural action of such a graceful animal. Mayhew says that ‘pride has no brains, and but a very limited amount of intellect.’ Let pride, or ‘fashion,’ just stoop to the use of tips, and then their coachmen would gradually come round. Coachmen are not all fools, any more than they are all sages, although they are all prejudiced; and few of them nowadays are as interested as their class formerly was in bolstering up trade interests. We find that they mostly acquire an affection for their horses—as they look upon them, and they should not be altogether discouraged from so doing—barring some unfortunate animal that is obliged to become a crib-biter, &c., but in favour of which they are generally willing to admit either pluck or something else. They cannot