hing eight hundred, and the other eight hundred and forty-five
pounds. One of the middle leaders weighs nine hundred, the other nine
hundred and forty-seven pounds, and fourteen hands and a half high.

CHAPTER IV. DISEASES MULES ARE LIABLE TO.--WHAT HE CAN DRAW, ETC., ETC.

The committee also say that the mule is a more steady animal in his
draft than the horse. I think this the greatest mistake the committee
has made. You have only to observe the manner in which a dray or
heavily-loaded wagon will toss a mule about, and the way he will toss
himself around on the road, to be satisfied that the committee have
formed an erroneous opinion on that point. In starting with a load, the
mule, in many cases, works with his feet as if they were set on a pivot,
and hence does not take so firm a hold of the ground as the horse does.
I have never yet seen a mule in a dray or cart that could keep it from
jolting him round. In the first place, he has not the power to steady a
dray; and, in the second place, they never can be taught to do it. In
fine, they have not the formation to handle a dray or cart. What, then,
becomes of the idea that they are as steady in drays or teams as the
horse.

The committee also say that mules are not subject to such ailments as
horses--spavin, glanders, ringbone, and bots. If I had the committee
here, I would show its members that every other mule in the
quartermasters' department, over fifteen and a half hands high, is
either spavined, ringboned, or ill some way injured by the above-named
diseases. The mule may not be so liable to spavin as the horse, but he
has ringbone just the same. I cannot, for the life of me, see how the
committee could have fallen into this error. There is this, however, to
be taken into consideration: the mule is not of so sensitive a nature as
the horse, and will bear pain without showing it in lameness. The close
observer, however, can easily detect it. One reason why they do not show
spavin and ringbone so much at the horse, is because our blacksmiths do
not cut their heels as low as they do a horse's, and consequently that
part of the foot is not made to work so hard. If you believe a mule has
a ringbone, and yet is not lame, just cut his heel down low, and give
him a few good pulls in a muddy place, and he will soon develop to you
both lameness and ringbone. Cut his toes down and leave his heels high,
and he will not be apt to go lame with it.

The committee also