I hope it was on Pen-l and not PKT but there has been a stream that has disparaged farriers (for the unitiated, working class people who treat horses feet -- formerly known as blacksmiths.) This is totally inappropriate. First of all, if you have ever done it as I have, it is backbreaking work. Farriers should be praised as the greatest of the working class. But, I think that the real reason is that readers of this list think that riding horses is a luxury, a measure of moral degradation, a sinful extravegance that should be taxed out of existance. Well, you are nuts. I have two horses for the purpose of playing polo. It is an ecologically benign sport (unlike most other sports) which gives me and the horses great pleasure. (You don't think they like it? Well come and see me when I yell into the pasture "polo" and they come running up to be saddled.) My wife and I have also ridden the (fox) hunt (not a live hunt) for a number of years which the horses really enjoy. So don't knock the farriers. They also do the feet of the so-called "working-horses", the heavy (draught) horses that are still used here, and the light horses that are still used in Ontario by the Old Order Mennonites as their prime sources of transporation and motive power. And they do the feet of my horses that are my prime recreation vehicle. Far more ecologically benign than those of you who play golf or ride bycycles on paved hiways. Nayhhhhhh! Paul Paul Phillips University College, University of Manitoba
