action if the feet are correctly prepared for them to help the shoe, for
if the foot, or feet, are not properly fixed to help the line of action
this faulty fixed foot will work against the effect of the sideweight,
and the results will be very unsatisfactory. Sideweight shoes are best
for winging in, or paddling out, with front legs, hitching or hopping or
carrying a hind leg in, out of line, or carrying a hind leg between the
front legs, also good for a wheel swinging hind leg.
XXI. WHEEL SWINGING.
A trotter that is wheel swinging a hind leg, has developed a line of
action that is tiresome, controlled mostly by the muscles on the outside
of leg, that unbalances action at speed to a certain extent, and it
looks unsightly to a good judge of gait, when coming to you or going
from you. To correct this faulty line of action of wheel swinging, keep
the toe of hind feet nearly as long as the front feet, and have the
angle of the hind feet within two or three degrees of the same as the
front feet. If the angle of front feet is fifty degrees have the angle
of the hind feet about fifty-two or three degrees. Lower the outside of
hind foot a full quarter of an inch or more than it will be on the
inside, begin lowering the outside of hind foot at the center of toe
back to outside heel, have both hind feet the same length and angle.
Shoe with a sideweight shoe heaviest side of shoe on inside of foot,
with heelcalks, and place a thin low calk about one inch long on inside
toe of shoe in line from first to second nail holes. After the first
shoeing, if line of action has not improved as it should, you must lower
the outside of hind foot still more, but if you cannot lower the foot
have a shoe made thicker on the inside toe and thinner on the outside
toe and quarters, with the three calks on it and there will be more of a
change. This change can be made in the first shoeing if you have enough
of foot to change, but it is best for the horse and owner not to make
too radical a change too quickly. It is best to do it in two or three
shoeings, especially on a horse that has a lot of speed. Slow going
horses can stand more of a radical change than fast ones.
The directions in this article for the cure of wheel swinging, by foot
fixing and shoeing, will create a sudden change, at different points, on
the bones of the foot and leg, so as to create a leverage at a
particular point as the foot leaves the ground, to control a more
perfect line of action. Be sure your horse is not carrying his head off
to one side, the opposite side to the wheel swinging leg, for if so this
helps to unbalance action and works against the results you are trying
to get to a certain extent. Do not have the outside heel of shoe any
longer than the inside but have both same length.
XXII. KNUCKLING OVER.
This is caused by weakness, sometimes of the ligaments that hold the
bones of ankle in their sockets, and sometimes higher up. To shoe for
this, the first thing to do is to prepare the foot. You are likely to
find the hind feet abnormally long, perhaps longer than the front feet.
Lower the toes of hind feet as much as they will stand, shorten toes by
rasping off as much as the foot will stand, do not _touch_ the heels or
have the inside of foot higher than the outside. Now use a light hind
shoe, with side calks, the calks to be one and a half to two inches
long, and tapering towards the toe of shoe. At the point of heel this
calk should be not less than one-half inch high, the higher the better,
a square toe shoe is much better than a plain one, shod this way the
very best result is obtained at once. A shoe made thick at heels,
three-quarters of an inch or more, and thin at the toe for ordinary
driving is good.
XXIII. STUMBLING.
Is a very dangerous fault and is from a weakness that can be helped a
lot. The front feet of a stumbler should be kept as short as possible at
the toe. Elevate the heels as much as would be comfortable to the leg
and horse. A stumbler should be made to carry some weight in his front
shoes because the weight increases knee action, and this is what you
want in a stumbler. Shoe with a toeweight shoe thick at the heels, for
height, and roll the toes of the shoes as much as possible, a bevel toed
shoe is also good, keep the heels middling high, and the toes cut down
low and shortened up. These shoes are not very good for fast work, as
they will slip back too much on leaving the ground, which retards speed
but will help to make speed in lots of slow ones that require action.
XXIV. SPEEDY CUTTING.
A horse that is taking his work and is “speed cutting” and still
continues to be a good actor must be game. Speed cutting begins at the
coronet or a little higher up and continues up the pastern mostly on the
inside of leg to the top of ankle and even above that. There are three
things that cause this, the most prominent one to look for, is the
inside of the hind feet are a lot higher than the outside; seven times
out of ten the outside of front feet will be found longer or higher than
the inside. The horse may or may not be carrying the proper weight. If
he is pulling a part of a ton on the bit to hold him together, he is not
properly balanced with weight. The hitting is mostly done with the
outside toe of the front shoe. If you can find some one who can level
and balance these feet on the legs there will be a big change in the
action.
Excessive front, and not enough of hind, action will cause speed
cutting. Excessive hock and stifle action and not enough action in front
will also cause it. When the action is excessive, decrease it by
lowering the quarters and heels and by shoeing very light, if the action
of the other end needs to be increased, shorten the toes and add weight,
do not be afraid, four to five ounces will be better to experiment with
than one or two. After the horse gains confidence he may not need any
extra weight. The most important thing will be to find some one who can
fix the feet, and the feet will be found as I have stated above. There
are very few who are good judges of a balanced foot. It takes an expert
to detect the high and low side of a foot. Horses that wing into their
knees and those that paddle away from their knees, and line trotters,
contract this fault because of an improperly prepared foot to control
the faulty line of action and at times not carrying the proper amount of
weight front and hind to balance the action so that the hind action will
work in harmony with the front.
If the horse wings in toward his knees with one or both front feet fix
the front feet according to the directions in this book in the chapter
on winging in or knee hitting. If the horse paddles out away from his
knees, I refer you to the chapter on Paddling to prepare his feet by,
and use the shoes therein prescribed. If the front action is excessive
and lofty you must lower the quarters and heels to give him a longer
leverage to leave the ground from, and shoe with a light shoe, and
balance him with a toe weight for extension, and have the feet the same
length and angle.
To prepare the feet on a speedy cutter, rasp down or lower the inside of
foot from centre of toe back to inside heel to a level or a fraction
lower than the outside of the foot, have the toes of both feet the same
length, and at the angle he shows the most speed with. Shoe with a
sideweight shoe, the heavy side of shoe on the outside of foot and
calked to prevent slipping.
To shorten the hind stride use a light shoe, raise the heels and shorten
the toes of the hind feet as much as they will stand. To lengthen the
stride of the hind feet, lower the quarters and heels to a longer angle
to leave the ground from, and add several ounces more weight than the
horse has been carrying to each shoe; the inside edges of hind shoes
from the toe back to quarters should be beveled off. The edges of front
shoes should be beveled off on both outside and inside.
XXV. A BAD SPEEDY CUTTER.
The late Freeman M. Dodge of Pittsfield, Mass., trainer and driver, had
a bay mare by the name of “Tillie Wilkes” that was speedy cutting so bad
that he was not able to work her, and he came to me to find out if I
could stop her from speedy cutting. I told him I could not tell until I
saw her driven. He brought her over and drove her down the stretch at a
three minute gait. This mare had a sore spot on the lower inside of one
hind ankle that was raw, the size of a silver dollar and when she began
touching this spot, speedy cutting, she would jump and begin running.
After seeing this mare driven I found she had excessive action in front
and very lofty, and her hind action mostly all stifle action and very
little hock action and her feet were in bad shape. She was driven over
the next day to be shod and I had her shoes ready when she arrived. I
fixed this mare’s front feet by lowering her quarters and heels as much
as nature would allow me, and left all the toe possible. This gave her a
longer leverage to leave the ground from, which kept her from breaking
over so quick, and it reduced her lofty knee action and created more
extension. I took off a twelve-ounce shoe from each of her front feet,
and applied a four-ounce aluminum shoe.
Fixing her hind feet and shoeing them was the most important. I
shortened the toes and lowered the inside of each hind foot until the
inside of them was as low as the outside or a shade lower if anything. I
fitted a pair of heavy sideweight shoes, the heavy side of the shoes on
the outside of the hind feet, each hind shoe weighed about eleven ounces
with heel calks. This job stopped all the speedy cutting and she trotted
quarters in 31 seconds shortly after, and was sold to Mr. Shults for
$750.00.
XXVI. GAITING COLTS.
Sometimes you will find a colt that has not much knee, hock or stifle
action and not much speed, and in such cases, to remedy the defect,
after the feet have been leveled the hind feet a shade shorter than the
front, I would recommend a heavy rolling toe shoe in front, eight, nine
or ten ounces and a little lighter one behind, two or three ounces
lighter. If the foot is large and the colt is strong, eleven ounces in
front to begin with. Now as the action increases, decrease the weight.
When the colt begins to make speed he or she will not need a rolling toe
shoe in front, a plain shoe is better, one that will not slip back on
leaving the ground. As the colt begins to make speed the action of the
legs needs watching because sometimes they will begin to show a faulty
line of action.
If they begin to get faulty they are liable to begin winging in or
paddling out, and when shod again the feet can be fixed to prevent this
way of going at speed. The most important thing is _fixing_ their feet
to prevent a faulty line of action for if the feet are not kept level
they will begin getting rough gaited and unsteady. One important thing
in fixing feet on yearlings to be shod and worked for speed is to keep
the quarters and heels of front feet as low as possible, it affords
comfort in landing and increases extension without carrying so much
weight. Colts that have a lot of action at both ends, hind and front,
need very light shoes all round, you can find out the proper balance
with a toe weight.
To increase extension, lower the quarters and heels and apply toe
weights instead of using so much in the shoe. The colt should carry a
natural head, not too high and not too low, the lower the better if he
is inclined to mix. If your colt is short and choppy gaited in his hind
action lower the quarters and heels of hind feet and shoe with a heavy
toeweight plain shoe and extend the shoe out one-quarter of an inch or
more in front of toe of hind foot. When the colt begins to make speed
decrease the weight of shoe of hind feet. Some youngsters require more
weight behind than in front to equalize action so as to work
harmoniously front and rear.
If you have a mixed-gaited colt and you want to make a trotter out of
him or her, keep plenty of foot on both hind and front feet, especially
at the toes. When fixing the feet to be shod cut or rasp the quarters
and heels of both front and hind feet as low as possible, keep plenty of
toe on front and hind feet. Usually you will find that the front feet
have the longest angle to leave the ground from, but by lowering the
quarters and heels of hind feet to get them as near as you can to the
same angle of the front feet, the more you will be confining the gait to
a pure trot, and there will be less danger of singlefooting or pacing.
I want my readers to distinctly understand that there is a set of pacing
feet for a pacer and a set of trotting feet for a trotter, especially at
the time when you are going to convert a trotter to the pace or a pacer
to the trot. That, however, will be explained later in this book. If
your trotting colt becomes mixed gaited or goes into a singlefoot or
pace, the first thing to do is to lower the quarters and heels of hind
feet as much as possible, keep all the toe on him you can and shoe with
a light shoe with toe and heel calks. The front feet should be lowered
in the same manner and add a few ounces more weight to front shoes and
allow your colt to be driven as low headed as is comfortable.
When you try this remedy for a mixed-gaited colt or horse you will be
surprised why you have not been able to find it out years ago.
The pacing youngster with not much of any kind of action at either end,
needs to go in short toes and heavy shoes all around and if the toes of
shoes are beveled or rolled it will be very good the first time shod.
After your pacing colt begins to make speed, shoe to prevent slipping at
both ends, with heel and toe calks on hind shoes. As a rule they go high
headed, it seems to suit the majority of pacers.
[Illustration:
HORSE-SHOE STACK—ALLEN FARM, 1916.
W. J. MOORE
]
If your pacer begins to cross-fire lower the inside of hind feet but if
you cannot lower the feet on the inside raise the outside with the
thickness of the shoe, thick on outside and thin on inside. If you can
lower the inside of hind feet low enough, a plain shoe will do with
calks. The best shoe for a cross-firing pacer is a heavy sideweight
shoe, thin and rounded off on the inside toe. You do not need any
_projections_ on this shoe, heel or toe, if the foot is properly
prepared to widen action. If your colt gets to winging to his knees,
lower the outside of front feet from centre of toes to heel on
_outside_. If your colt begins to paddle with one front leg or the
other, lower the inside of the foot or feet as much as they will stand,
this will leave the outside toe the longest to leave the ground from,
which, when at speed, will prevent a lot of paddling. The lighter the
shoes on a paddler the better, but if he has to carry some weight in his
shoes to balance action, put all the weight in the outside of his shoes.
If you use a toeweight, attach it near to the outside toe for better
results. Paddling is caused by the contraction of muscles on one side of
the leg, the same as winging in, and not always by bad shoeing, the main
thing is _foot fixing_.
Some say there is nothing under the sun perfect. Foals developing in the
womb of their dam sometimes will be in a cramped position, which
contracts those muscles or ligaments that cause winging in or paddling
out. As some of the yearlings and weanlings show this faulty line of
action before ever being shod. I have seen yearlings that were
knee-knockers to begin with and you would think confirmed ones and after
one, two or three shoeings you could not hear them knock their boots on
the turns, and they would later develop into fast trotters and win races
or take fast records at two and three years old.
At the Allen Farm, where I have been located for a great many years, I
have seen results obtained by foot fixing and shoeing that satisfied me
that there were secrets hidden from most of the public in the art or
science of foot fixing and balancing faulty action, and from my
experience and the results obtained, I felt that the public was entitled
to my knowledge so gained. I have seen yearlings step eighths of a mile
from 15¾ to 17 and 18 seconds, and many of them. I have seen a yearling
step the last sixteenth of an eighth in seven seconds, a 1:52 gait, on
this half-mile track which should go a second faster on a mile track.
Now if the foot fixing and shoeing that I have explained in this book
and have been practising for years is not the nearest approach to the
proper and correct way of balancing the action of the trotter and pacer,
why has Bingara become the champion fourteen-year-old sire of 2:30
performers, located as he is in this cold climate and far away from the
section where are the greatest number of producing dams? Mares by
Kremlin 2:07¾, the champion living brood mare sire of the world, have
produced wonderful results. Through these channels came Baden 2:05¼, a
trotting race horse that raced on both half-mile tracks and mile tracks
and was badly handicapped in many of his races by being scored ten,
twelve, fifteen, and as many as seventeen times before getting the word.
This scoring was not all done by one driver or one horse, but by
different drivers and different horses trying to break the horse’s heart
repeatedly, and when they could not rupture his legs, unhinge his back,
rattle his thinking box or break his heart, Mr. Geers and Mr. Cox, the
great race drivers, said that Baden 2:05¼ was the greatest race horse
ever seen. In all my experience with the produce of Bingara I have never
seen one yet that wanted to pace if looked after in his early education.
I know him to get trotters from pacing mares, and nothing but trotters
from all kinds of mares, his power to transmit the trotting gait to his
produce is something wonderful, and his only pacers are those that were
forced by the unsportsmanlike use of hopples.
XXVII. NEGLECTED HIND FEET.
The hind feet on both trotters and pacers are the worst neglected when
receiving their preparation in training and racing. Is your trotter or
pacer going rough gaited with his hind legs? Is your trotter hitting his
coronets, is he speedy cutting, is he hitting his shins or hocks? Is
your pacer hitting his front shoes, or cross-firing? All this unbalanced
action comes from an unbalanced, unprepared, and unweighted foot, most
times—nearly nine out of ten—from cutting the outside of hind foot too
low from center of toe back to outside heel leaving the inside the
highest, which will control the line of action of the leg after the foot
leaves the ground.
Lots of people do not know this and lots of horsemen do not know this
until they get into trouble and commence experimenting with some
fandangle shoes, long heels on one side and short heels on the opposite
side, or some projection on some part of shoes that creates strain and
friction trying to overcome a badly fixed foot or feet. If your trotter
or pacer is doing any of the above stunts, the insides of his hind foot
or feet are a lot too high for the outside. Cut the inside of hind feet
down as low as they will stand, low enough to change the angle of the
feet, to make the feet or angle longer to leave the ground from. If his
toes are the right length do not touch them.
The best shoe for your trotter in this case is a sideweight shoe, a
little heavier than he has been carrying—two or three ounces heavier.
The best shoe for the pacer is a sideweight, same as above and it can be
an ounce heavier than above, say four ounces heavier than he had been
carrying. After your trotter or pacer becomes purer gaited you can
dispense with this extra weight. Shoe light and as long as the foot or
feet are kept level and at the right poise and angle you will not have
any trouble. I do not recommend shoes with a long heel on one side and a
short one on an opposite side on a correctly or properly fixed foot, or
feet, for fast work or racing, because such shoes create undue friction
_at speed_. When a hind leg is extended and foot or feet are properly
fixed and balanced on the leg, both heels of the foot should strike the
ground at the _same time_. If the heel on one side of shoe is
three-quarter of an inch longer, or half inch longer, this long heel
hits the ground first, before the opposite heel hits, which is unnatural
and disagreeable to the bones of the feet, that work in sockets. It has
the tendency to shift the bearing of the bones in their sockets on
landing and leaving the ground, and gives extra work to the ligaments
that hold the bones in their sockets. On slow-going horses this long
outside heel does not affect them as severely as on horses that are
working fast or racing. You must remember when horses are going at a
fast pace they land on their heels as a rule with their toes elevated
away from the ground. This is one of the main reasons why the heels of
hind shoes should be the same length on both sides at _speed_ or taking
_fast_ work. There are lots of horses that would have been faster and
better race horses if their hind feet and action had been properly
balanced to work harmoniously with one another. The speed of a horse
depends largely on the propelling power of the hind quarters. The
muscles of the thigh, stifle and whirlbone need looking after in their
early preparation to keep the soreness out of them until they become
hardened. Do not work your horse on a slippery track, wait a day or you
may be sorry, if he is not eating skip a workout, it will suit the
horse.
XXVIII. KNEE ACTION WITHOUT EXTENSION.
Many horses have plenty of knee action and no extension. This horse is
carrying weight enough, and foot is prepared to make him knee up, but is
unbalanced both by the weight application and foot fixing to develop the
proper extension. The feet of a horse gaited in this manner need the
quarters and heels of front feet lowered as low as safety will permit,
do not touch the toes of front feet, place the front feet at as long an
angle to leave the ground from as possible, reduce the weight of the
front shoes and add it to the feet in a toe weight, and pull his head
down some if you have to use a standing martingale and let him come
along gradually.
Too much knee action is lost motion and tiresome. I found that out for
myself walking through the deep snows that we have up here in the
Berkshire Hills. Too much folding of the knees causes elbow hitting, and
at times when they do not reach their elbow some of them will hit on the
back of their arm. One of the worst speedy cutters I ever saw was gaited
in front in this manner. I decreased the knee and folding action,
changed the hind feet, which were very high on inside, lowered them and
shod with heavy outside weight shoe and she trotted clean and pure,
quarters in 31 seconds in May. She had one sore on her as large as a
silver dollar from hitting, and when she began hitting she would try and
run away.
XXIX. HORSES THAT GET AWAY SLOW, BUT FINISH FAST.
In these cases I feel sorry for the horse also for the driver. The horse
knows he is handicapped, and the driver does not want to take any
desperate chances of getting shut out by trying to get away with the
field of starters, anyhow I will say, the horse is unbalanced to get
away, got a lot of speed but can not find it when it is needed. This
horse needs assistance in foot balancing and weighting. The front action
on this kind of a horse needs to be increased more for extension than
anything else, increase his extension and everything else will take care
of itself.