feet, make the angle longer to leave the ground from. If the angle of
his front feet is at 54 or 55 degrees change it to 50 or 51, if it is at
52 or 53 degrees change it to 48 or 49 degrees, add three or four ounces
more weight to his front shoes and carry the same toe weight that he has
been carrying. In fixing his front feet do not touch or take anything
off his toes, shoe to prevent slipping, especially the hind feet. If
this horse has been carrying a light shoe in front—seven, eight or nine
ounces—it will require not less than four or five ounces more weight to
get away with his field. If this four or five ounces balances him to get
away with his field, he will not pull you hard to hold him together. If
this horse is not inclined to mix, I would have the toes of hind feet an
eighth or quarter inch shorter than those of the front feet and at an
angle of about 54 or 55 degrees, but if he is inclined to shift or mix
into a single foot, have the hind feet as near the same length and angle
as the front feet as possible, the nearer the better. If it takes two or
three ounces more weight to balance faulty action, use it, put it on his
feet, if you don’t you will wear him out pulling on him, you will make
him muscle-sore propelling against your strong arms, pulling 100 or 150
pounds on the bit. It creates a terrible strain going the last quarter
of a fast mile, especially on youngsters, and some trainers wonder why
some of their pupils don’t go on and develop speed, and wonder why some
of them become so tired after passing the three-quarter pole. No matter
how royally bred they are, they need to be properly balanced to go the
distance on as light a pull on the bit as possible. If you depend on
balancing them by holding them together by pulling against their jaws
you are a back number for a youngster or aged horse is not doing his
work in comfort and with ease going against a heavy pull on the bit.
There is nothing that will wear out a yearling, two-year-old or
three-year-old quicker than hard pulling against the bit, for it
over-taxes the muscles of the propelling power caused by being
unbalanced. Their propelling muscles will stand it for a while, but not
for long. If you can get your colt or horse properly balanced he will
not pull you, he would rather go at speed in comfort and ease to himself
than to get unhinged in the back propelling against a heavy pull on the
lines. The trainers that can detect or locate faulty action and know
what to do to remedy the same are the ones that make a success of
developing, conditioning and driving in races. It takes judgment, a good
eye and ear to detect faulty action. It takes an expert to detect a
badly fixed foot that was intended to help the line of action.
XXX. TO CONVERT A PACER TO TROT.
Begin by fixing his feet, cut or rasp the quarters and heels of all four
feet down as low as possible without getting any sole pressure against
the shoes that are fitted. Have the length of toes as near alike as the
case will permit, I mean by not taking anything off the toes of front
feet or hind feet, supposing the toes are near alike, he will need all
the toe possible to convert him to the trot from the pace. Shoe front
feet with a heavy toe weight shoe, it may take fifteen or seventeen
ounces. If you have to use any toe weight while going slow it is best to
weld spur on toe of shoe and use a toe weight fitted to the spur. It is
best in this case, in order to convert the pacer to trot, to have a grab
on the front shoes. Shoe the hind feet with a light shoe with toe and
heel calk, drive him as low headed as possible even if you have to use a
standing martingale, bring him along slow, by degrees, for as it effects
a change of muscles it is something new to the horse and the more time
you take in bringing along trotting, the more you will be perfecting the
gait. Don’t hurry matters. After a few weeks he will have more growth of
foot and can lower his quarters and heels a little more giving his feet
a longer angle to leave the ground from. In converting a pacer to trot,
a four-inch toe is not too long on some horses, but on yearlings and
two-year-olds their feet will be shorter, but the closer you get the
angle of front and hind feet to 50 or 51 degrees with same length of
toes hind and front, the better, to confine him to the trot, and keep
him trotting. In some cases the angle needs to be 48 or 49 degrees in
front, and as near to that as you can get the hind feet.
XXXI. CONVERTING A TROTTER TO THE PACE.
Shorten and lower the toes of all four feet, do not touch the quarters
or heels of front or hind feet. The weight of the shoes will vary on
different horses. On a youngster I would put a five or six-ounce
concaved shoe in front, and about nine or ten ounces behind, with toe
and heel calk. On an older horse the weight at both front and hind can
be correspondingly heavier, about eight ounces front and eleven or
twelve ounces, with heel and toe calks behind. Now when hitched ready to
go for the first lesson, check the head as high as the horse or colt can
carry it without causing pain and misery to the neck. If he paces any, a
half mile up to a mile and a half is enough for the first three or four
lessons. If he acts good do not let him go too fast for the first week
or ten days, you must take two or three weeks before asking him to step.
The angle of the front feet should be about 55 degrees and the angle of
the hind feet should be about 59 degrees.
Some horses that go into a singlefoot or strike a pace occasionally can
be easily converted to the pace by shoeing light in front and heavier
behind, from three to five ounces more weight in each hind shoe than he
is carrying in his front shoes. If he does not take to the pace readily
add more weight to hind shoes, and bevel or roll the toes of shoes, and
check head higher. You need a short natural foot all around to convert
to the pace. The angle of the feet will vary according to their
pasterns. If the horse has a long oblique pastern, shorten the toes hind
and front as much as they will allow to be safe, and do not touch the
heels.
I used this method of converting Joe Patchen II from the trot to the
pace, and many others. They could not make him strike a pace and after
fixing his feet and shoeing him he went out on the track and paced an
eighth of a mile in eighteen seconds after having been driven at the
trot for over a year.
XXXII. CONTRACTED HEELS.
To expand a contracted foot or quarter the first thing to do is to get
the foot soft by poulticing or stuffing with “Whiterock” for a couple of
nights. Use hoof expanders that are stronger than the hoof, some feet
are so strong and stiff at the quarters that the foot has to be weakened
between the bars and frog so that the expanders will expand it. If you
want the inside quarter expanded leave the last two heel nails out of
the inside of shoe, put a toe clip on shoe and a clip back at the
outside heel and do just the reverse to expand an outside quarter. In
this way you will be getting all the expansion on the contracted
quarter. If this shoe is fitted so that the expander can be placed in
the foot after the shoe has been nailed on, the contracted quarter will
be expanded over a quarter of an inch before the shoe is clinched up.
Nails should not be used back towards the heels of a contracted foot
that is to be expanded. When the foot expands wider than the shoe, reset
shoes and renew the position of expander to act stronger. The softer you
keep the feet the faster they will spread, do not let them get dry and
hard. The expansion you get in the foot of a yearling or a two or
three-year-old can be kept after the expander has been discarded by not
allowing the heels to be kept too high for too long a time. But in aged
horses that have had contracted feet or quarters for years and have
become set, you can expand the feet or quarters, and when you stop using
the expanders the heels and quarters will contract right back to where
they were before, in the majority of cases. In cases of this kind in
aged horses after the feet have been expanded the quarters should be cut
down low and the coronets blistered on both inside and outside quarters.
There are lots of horses with contracted heels and the heels become so
high from the coronet to the shoe bearing surface and have stayed this
way for such a length of time that they cannot be cut down without
hurting or injuring the horse, until after the feet have been expanded.
The sensitive part of the foot gets a long ways down from the coronet in
a contracted foot, and to cut or lower the quarters and heels to place
the foot at a proper angle, it cannot be done until the foot is
expanded. The more you expand the foot the lower you can cut or rasp
down the heels. The more you expand the heels the higher up you are
driving the sensitive interior of the foot at the quarters. In many aged
horses after the feet are expanded it will be well to continue the use
of expanders, to prevent contraction, for a period of six or twelve
months.
XXXIII. CAUSE OF CONTRACTED HEELS.
A disease called Thrush, located in and about the frog is sure to
contract the heels of a foot, if not cured quickly. A foot troubled with
thrush should be cured when first discovered, if not the frog keeps
perishing away until there is not enough of it there to hold or keep the
heels from contracting. Another cause is allowing feet to grow too high
at the heels and letting them remain too high for too long a time. When
the heels get too high the frog is too far away from the ground to get
any expansion, or to prevent contraction. The closer the frog is kept to
the ground on a horse running in pasture or shod and working, all the
better. Stock running in pasture, young or old, should have their feet
rasped down regularly every five or six weeks at the longest. Some may
need it oftener than that. This fixing of feet on stock running out,
assists expansion and prevents contraction. If the feet are allowed to
grow too long on stock running in pasture the position the animal has to
stand in while grazing, with one leg out in front of the other will
contract or curl the inside quarter of each front foot, and wing out the
outside quarter. Shoes staying on too long, and horses kept on dry, hard
floors where they do not get any moisture, will cause contraction. The
feet of horses kept on dry hard floors should be stuffed at least every
other night with clay, or whiterock, or something of a moistening
nature. Contraction is the main cause of both quartercracks and corns.
To cure Thrush, cleanse the frog thoroughly, then a few applications of
dry powdered calomel to the frog will dry the disease up and leave the
frog healthy.
XXXIV. CORNS.
A live, painful corn is caused by different things. High contracted
heels will cause corns as well as short ones. Shoeing and leaving the
shoes on too long, and undue concussion will cause corns. The majority
of cases of corns will be found in contracted feet. I find the most
successful way to treat corns is to get the foot or feet soft and keep
them soft. Shoe with a bar shoe, lower the heels so as you can get all
the frog pressure possible on the bar of the shoe, after the shoe has
been fitted, and before nailing to the foot, cut the heel bearing away
from the shoe where the corn is located, an inch of the bearing surface
ahead of the corn and half an inch or more away from the shoe to break
the jar and reduce the concussion. If foot is contracted use an expander
inserted in foot before shoe is fitted, and keep foot soft. I do not
recommend cutting the bars and sole away where the corn is located and
leaving the wall standing up all alone, but cut the whole heel seat of
corn and bar down _flat_, away from the bearing surface of shoe.
XXXV. TOE CRACK OR SPLIT FOOT.
A foot with a toe crack should be kept as short as possible at the toe.
Apply a stiff hoof expander, use one or two rivets or clamps as high up
and as near the coronet as possible after cutting the horn where one
side laps over the other the full length of the crack. After inserting
the hoof expander fit a bar shoe to the foot with a clip at each side of
the toe, and before nailing shoe to foot cut the bearing of foot away
from the shoe across the toe. If the foot is not contracted any I would
recommend a clip back at each heel. Treat the same as is prescribed for
Quartercrack, after cutting away half inch each side of crack at the
coronet. If foot is contracted do not use any clips back at the heels
and keep the foot soft.
XXXVI. QUARTERCRACK.
A quartercrack is a split or crack in a quarter from the coronet down
towards the bottom of a foot. At times it is very painful and prevents
the use of the horse. In most of these quartercracks one side is lapped
over on the other one-quarter or three-eighths of an inch, and from the
continual expansion and contraction of the foot while the horse is in
action the lapped parts are continually working against one another as
the foot expands with the weight of horse on it, and contracts when the
foot is lifted up. This kind of action of the split horn at the coronet
is what prevents it from knitting. The first thing to do is to apply a
few poultices which will get the foot soft. If the foot or quarter is
contracted apply a hoof expander. In fixing the foot rasp the foot as
low as possible without making it tender, at both heels and toes. Do not
cut any sole or bars out or cut the heels open with the knife, have the
side of foot where the crack is on the lowest or you can have that part
of the shoe quite thin, so that the jar or concussion will be on all
parts of foot, except the quartercrack. Use a bar shoe with plenty of
frog pressure, a plain shoe is best. If you have to have calks, place
the heel calk on cracked side ahead of crack on shoe if possible. If the
crack is close to the heel, take the bearing of foot away from the shoe
by cutting the heel down. Now cut the horn away on the side that is
lapped over the other the full length of the quartercrack, cut the horn
away one-quarter of an inch each side of the crack at the coronet, if it
bleeds a little it will not hurt. Now a blister at the coronet above and
on each side of the crack will be beneficial to start the growth down
solid, if it should crack open again apply a stronger one. After the
crack starts to grow down solid, apply a little of the blistering
ointment every week or ten days but do not let it blister, just use
enough to keep it sweating, it will toughen and soften the horn as it
grows down. A rivet or clamp drawing the edges of crack together as near
the coronet as possible, to hold it together and strengthen it will be
very beneficial. A salve or ointment formally made by the late Geo. W.
St. Clair, and now by Mike Bowerman, of Lexington, Ky., is the best
thing I have seen to help knit and grow down a quartercrack. A little
North Carolina tar rubbed into coronet over crack every other day I find
is excellent.
XXXVII. DISHED OR SCOOPED TOE.
This is caused by allowing feet to grow too long, especially on colts
and horses in training, creating undue pressure and strain on the front
of foot on breaking over to leave the ground. It is also caused by being
foundered, where the soles of feet have dropped, and also where the
fever has settled in the feet, and the soles have not dropped, but are
inclined to be contracted, dry and hard, and kept at the wrong angle,
and feet not kept properly fixed and shoes not properly fitted. The
remedy for this is to fix the foot at the proper angle, keep the frog
close to the ground. Pare the sole a little thin around the toe from the
point of frog out to the wall at the toe, and after the shoe has been
fitted, cut the bearing of the foot at the toe away from the shoe. A few
shoeings of this kind will prevent the toe from turning up.
XXXVIII. CONCUSSION.
Horses with high knee action hit the ground the hardest. The more weight
a horse carries in his shoes or toe weights, the more concussion he
receives. The concussion on the hind feet and legs does not seem to pain
or sting anything like what he has to endure in the front feet and legs
when striking the ground fast and hard, especially when he is going over
a hard piece of ground. If his front feet are out of proportion, high
heels and long toes, dry and hard, he will feel the concussion severely
and this will make many horses unsteady, breaking and acting bad. A
horse with lofty forward action should be trained in a natural low
quarter and low heeled foot, with a bar shoe as light as possible, with
frog pressure.
The most dangerous and uncomfortable kind of a foot for a horse that
hits the ground hard to have is one with the heels abnormally high. The
higher the heels the greater the concussion. The lower the heels the
less the concussion. The more weight the more concussion. The less
weight the less concussion. A foot that is kept at the proper angle, as
near to a natural foot as possible, and kept soft, will prevent the
stinging and painful sensation that is caused by concussion. With feet
kept like this the horse will not flinch or shorten up in his stride
when he strikes hard places in the track. The light thin heel calks that
are used on shoes do not break much of the concussion when horses are
going fast. Why? because when the legs are extended at speed the shoes
land on the ground back on the heel, with the toe of the foot elevated
away from the ground, and with some horses more than with others. They
do not strike the ground flat-footed like the most of them do when going
slow. Thin hard pads are very good under light shoes, but thick pads
that will allow the walls of a horse’s foot at heels to sink or cut
through them at the heels are no good. They will create a hard lump at
the seat of corns between the bar and wall at the heels, and hold dirt
that is liable to create unpleasant feelings to a sensitive horse that
goes in middling low heels. When heels of the front feet are allowed to
become too high on horses taking fast work or racing, a very severe
strain is thrown on the ligament or tendon that holds the navicular bone
in its socket. When the leg is extended at speed the extra high heels
cause the foot to land too far ahead of the leg while the toe is
elevated on landing, so that it creates an extra amount of work for the
ligament to hold it in its proper position at the time of impact with
the ground.
XXXIX. FOUNDER, CHRONIC LAMINITIS OR DROPPED SOLE.
There is only one way to shoe this kind for comfort to the animal, and
for an earning remuneration for the owner. In founder or chronic
laminitis, where the sole of feet are dropped, caused by the
displacement of the weight-bearing bones of the foot, fix the feet by
lowering the quarters and heels so as to get as much frog pressure as is
possible, without making the foot tender, and your foot is ready for the
shoe. A shoe for a dropped sole foot must be a bar shoe, thick at the
toe and thin at the heels, with a wide thin bar to receive the frog
pressure. To make a shoe to suit this kind of diseased feet, use a piece
of iron three-quarters to one inch square according to the nature of the
disease and the weight of the horse, and in making the shoes for foot
founder leave all the thickness of the shoe at the toe possible, and
thin the shoe at the quarters and heels to a quarter of an inch, have
the bar wide and thin so as to receive all the frog pressure possible,
the thicker the toe of shoe and thinner the quarters and bar at heels
the better. Concave or cup the shoe out so as not to get any sole
pressure.
I will cite one case of this kind, the very worst in my experience. A
horse that weighed over 1400 pounds that could scarcely stand on his
feet, had been treated by different veterinary surgeons and shod several
times and could not keep the shoes on his feet and he was so sore that I
got wet with perspiration getting two nails in one shoe and I had to
stand him in a very soft place to do that. This horse would lay down in
the lot most all the time and eat the grass from where he could reach it
and then move to where he could reach more, he was the most hopeless
subject I ever came across. I shod him according to the instruction
herein prescribed, and he trotted off with his tail curled over his back
like a colt. He was put to work the next morning and continued at work
until sold for two hundred dollars. Elevating the heels with calks
creates pain and misery to the animal.
XL. CROSS-FIRING PACERS.
When a pacer begins to cross-fire every one knows he is not balanced.
There are different causes for cross-firing: front feet not properly
fixed and at the proper angle, not carrying the proper amount of weight
in front will help to cause it, and on hind feet the same. Too much
slipping will help to create it. But the most important thing that
causes cross-firing, nine times out of ten, is because the hind feet are
a lot higher on the inside than they are on the outside, which creates a
leverage to leave the ground from when at speed, which extra height or
length of foot acts as a leverage to control the line of action of the
leg after the foot leaves the ground. In all my experience with
cross-firers I have found this the most important factor, namely, the
inside of the offending feet to be the highest. So the fixing of the
feet is the most important part of the contract. If you can get the feet
properly fixed to change the leverage, to control the line of action,
there will be no more cross-firing. (This same rule applies to a trotter
that is unbalanced if the insides of his hind feet are the highest and
when he strikes a singlefoot or pace he is very likely to cross-fire).
The pacer that begins to cross-fire needs the insides of the hind feet
lowered, a little longer angle to leave the ground from, with the height
or extra length of foot to create a leverage on leaving the ground to be
at the outside toe. A foot properly fixed as herein prescribed and a
properly made and fitted shoe will stop cross-firing. I would recommend
a sideweight shoe, the weight to be applied to the outside of feet, the
inside to be beveled or rounded from center of toe back to the inside
quarter of each hind shoe. The shoes could be a few ounces heavier than
previous shoes for best results. As a rule pacers go best and fastest in
shorter feet than the trotters. The easier a pacer can leave the ground
the more rapid gaited he will be, and the more he will be inclined to
stick to the pace. By all means shoe to prevent slipping both in front
and behind. A proper angle for the front feet has to be found, also for
the hind feet, so that the speed at both ends will be in harmony, if one
end is faster than the other there will be friction.
There will be found in this work directions as to how to lengthen or
shorten the stride, to increase or decrease knee or hock action, to
widen hind action, also the best way to prevent winging in and paddling
out, at speed. Also how to quicken the action of dwelling gaited ones.
As to the proper amount of weight that the horse goes the fastest with
in his shoes, the trainer should know better than any one else, but all
trainers are not the best judges of gait, an expert on the ground taking
a view from in front, from behind, and a side view, has a big advantage
over the driver. An expert trainer and race driver knows when his pupil
can step a mile, half or three-quarters at a 2:10 or 2:05 or a 2:00 gait
on a light line, that his horse is all right, if there is any friction
he can see it or feel it on the lines.
XLI. NOTE OF IMPORTANCE.
Now right here is the most important part of a little transaction that
should not be omitted from any trainer’s records. The condition your
horse has worked up to and how he has been cared for, his weight,
whether he wears calks or not, what is the angle of his feet and length
of toes front and hind, what is the weight of his front shoes also his
hind shoes, also about his harness, the exact length of back strap and
check rein, and what hole the buckle belongs in the check rein should be
carefully noted. If you keep a record of these things no one can tell
you what your horse needs, for you will know it yourself far better. If
a change takes place and it is not physical, it may have occurred in the
shop if he has been shod recently, and as you have kept a record of his
feet and shoes and harness you can find out by reference to it.
The last time I was in Lexington, Ky. I was working at my trade, shoeing
horses, when I was approached by a gentleman by the name of Saunders, he
said to me that he was told by some of his friends to see me about
shoeing a cross-firing pacer that he had and he also said that I was
recommended to him very highly. I told him I could tell him what I could
do for the horse after seeing the condition of the feet, if I could help
him or not, so he had the horse led around to my tent to be looked at.
After looking at the feet and shoeing, I told him I could help that
horse wonderfully, so the next day my subject was led around for me to
operate on. I had learned that this horse cross-fired so bad they could
hardly keep quarter-boots on him, and they were afraid to work him on
account of cross-firing. He was entered to start at the meeting but was
a little short of work. His feet were in bad shape according to the
calipers and foot adjuster and to my eye. I fixed this horse’s feet to
pace without cross-firing and truly, according to the prescription given
in this book for cross-firing. That horse responded to the treatment
instantly and the horse paced fine with no more cross-firing. He was
worked a couple of times during the week and went all right, and during
the meeting he was going so good they agreed to start him. He started in
the race and if my memory serves me right he finished second the first
heat, the second heat several horses finished ahead of him, I do not
remember how many, but when they came out for the third heat the driver
of this horse was called up in the stand to watch this horse while a
driver by the name of Mike Bowerman piloted him to victory in three
straight heats and he took a record close to 2:10. I believe the horse’s
name was Sable Gift, or some other gift. The only gift the horse got was
a record, something he did not want, neither did those that were buying
first, second and third choices.
XLII. KEEP THE FEET LEVEL.