Quotation from: The Valley of the Moon

Written by: Jack London

His shoulders went up in a comprehensive shrug.

"Huh! That's easy. The old geezer's like his orchard--covered
with moss. It's plain as the nose on your face, after San
Leandro, that he don't know the first thing. An' them horses.
It'd be a charity to him, an' a savin' of money for him, to take
'em out an' shoot 'em both. You bet you don't see the Porchugeeze
with horses like them. An' it ain't a case of bein' proud, or
puttin' on side, to have good horses. It's brass tacks an'
business. It pays. That's the game. Old horses eat more in young
ones to keep in condition an' they can't do the same amount of
work. But you bet it costs just as much to shoe them. An' his is
scrub on top of it. Every minute he has them horses he's losin'
money. You oughta see the way they work an' figure horses in the
city."