Balancing and Shoeing Trotting and Pacing Horses

Part 1

BALANCING and SHOEING TROTTING and PACING HORSES

By WM. J. MOORE

Allen Farm, Pittsfield, Mass.

NEW ENGLAND’S GREATEST NURSERY OF SPEED

CLEVELAND, OHIO PRESS OF THE JUDSON PRINTING COMPANY 1916

Copyright 1916, by Wm. J. Moore

ALLEN FARM BLACKSMITH SHOP—KREMLIN 2:07¾, AGE 29.

ROBT. SHANKLAND W. J. MOORE

A TREATISE

—ON—

THE ART OF SHOEING HORSES

INTRODUCTION.

This is a plain, unvarnished and practical treatise on the art of balancing and shoeing trotting and pacing horses, unclouded by little known technical and scientific words and phrases, but written by the author, WM. J. MOORE, in his own every day words that can be easily understood by any horseman.

Mr. Moore, who has spent his life in the business of horse shoeing, was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1865, and later had charge of the Horse Shoeing Department of the Allen Farm at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, for a period of over twenty years, and he is still so engaged at Allen Farm.

Mr. Moore’s experience as a horse shoer dates from the time when he commenced work in a horse shoeing shop as an apprentice, at the age of 16 years. Since which time horse shoeing has been his sole occupation.

During this period of 35 years Mr. Moore has shod many noted trotting and pacing horses, and his long, varied and successful experience justifies the belief that no one is better qualified to write on this subject, and to offer advice in regard to it, than is he, and it is also the belief of those best qualified to judge, that no work of this sort, heretofore written, is more entitled to the confidence of, and acceptance by, the people who own trotting and pacing horses, for whatever purpose they may be used.

With this short preamble in the way of an introduction, we will let Mr. Moore tell his readers in his own words and in his own way how to shoe a trotter or a pacer, so that it may do its best work in the easiest way, and for the greatest benefit to its owner.

W. R. ALLEN, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

June, 1916.

INDEX

Page

I. Foals 1

II. Preparing the Foot 3

III. A Trotter Inclined to Singlefoot and Pace 6

IV. Causes of Rough Gait 7

V. Shin hitting in Front 8

VI. To Prevent Winging in 8

VII. Shin hitting Behind 9

Part 2

VIII. Knee and Arm Hitting 10

IX. Shoeing a Knee knocker 12

X. A Bad Hitter 13

XI. A Hitting Pacer 14

XII. Elbow Hitting 15

XIII. An Unusual Case 17

XIV. Paddling 17

XV. To Prevent Paddling 19

XVI. Hitching, Hopping and Running Behind 19

XVII. Forging 21

XVIII. Scalping 23

XIX. Remedy for Scalping 23

XX. Sideweights 25

XXI. Wheel Swinging 26

XXII. Knuckling Over 27

XXIII. Stumbling 27

XXIV. Speedy Cutting 28

XXV. A Bad One 30

XXVI. Gaiting Colts 31

XXVII. Neglected Hind Feet 35

XXVIII. Knee Action 37

XXIX. Slow Get Away, Fast Finish 37

XXX. To Convert a Pacer 39

XXXI. Converting a Trotter 40

XXXII. Contracted Heels 41

XXXIII. Cause of Contracted Heels 43

XXXIV. Corns 43

XXXV. Toe Crack 44

Part 3

XXXVI. Quartercrack 44

XXXVII. Dished Toe 46

XXXVIII. Concussion 46

XXXIX. Founder 48

XL. Cross-firing Pacers 49

XLI. Important Note 50

XLII. Level Feet 52

XLIII. Pulling on One Line 54

XLIV. A Judge of Gait 55

XLV. Bar Shoes 55

XLVI. Slipping 57

XLVII. Sideweight Shoes 58

XLVIII. Toeweight Shoes 59

XLIX. Pocket Weights 60

L. Interfering 60

Conclusion 63

THE ART OF SHOEING HORSES.

There is something in the foot of the horse that has been a mystery to many who have been unable to find out the secrets by reading some of the books that have been printed on the different subjects, and experimenting on the same, pertaining to a perfect balance of the trotter and pacer when in action.

I have shod all kinds of horses and have come in contact with all kinds of feet, and with the results gotten by practical experiments, I will try to enlighten my readers and the lovers of the light-harness horse.

I. FOALS.

The feet of the suckling foal should be properly fixed every four or five weeks. After the foal is eight or nine weeks old his feet need fixing regularly. To fix the feet on the young foal shorten the toes as much as the foot will stand without making the foot tender, and then rasp the quarters down to a level with the frog, or a little lower than the top of the frog will be better, then round the sharp edges of foot off so as the foal will not cut his legs with the sharp edges and the job is completed. Do not cut out the bars, or the sole, or the frog. Now if you have noticed that a foal stands toeing out, leave the inside of the toe of that foot a little the longest from the coronet, an eighth or three-sixteenths of an inch will be a benefit to the foot, also to the line of action later on, and if the foal toes in, leave the outside of the toe the longest, as it will help to straighten matters in the line of action.

In fixing the foal’s feet it is very good to rasp the quarters and heels low enough so as to give a slight frog pressure when the foot comes in contact with the ground. Frog pressure assists expansion and prevents contraction; a short natural foot with a slight frog pressure during the first and second year is one of the surest ways to prevent a bad gait or a ruptured tendon, in later years. Young foals should have their feet picked out two or three times a week to ventilate around the frog, because the filth that usually gets lodged around there will be almost sure to cause heat, and in consequence a diseased frog, which perishes away and allows the heels to contract. A contracted foot is a very bad thing and causes trouble in more ways than one. If the feet on foals are left to grow too long, the inside heels will cave in or become contracted from the position they rest on them while grazing. To prevent this keep them cut down, if not you will have to use hoof expanders to get the foot back to its natural position.

One of the most important factors in keeping the feet on sucklings, weanlings and yearlings in proper condition as is specified in this article is to see that you are keeping the leg in the middle of the foot, otherwise many a good horse suffers, as the concussion and strain is not equally distributed on both sides of the foot when in action. If the feet on sucklings, weanlings, yearlings and two-year-olds are kept properly fixed, quarters and heels kept low enough so as to receive a slight frog pressure, this means at the proper angle, you will not have any elbow hitters and very few knee-knockers. If you have a yearling that hits his knees you have not kept his legs in the middle of his feet by keeping his heels and quarters rasped down, which will make it easier to prevent winging into his knees than if he had a contracted inside quarter, which is the case when neglected.

II. PREPARING THE FOOT FOR THE SHOE.

To fix feet is the most important part of shoeing the horse. In fixing the foot, the first thing to take into consideration is, what sort of work are you fixing the foot for, is it for a draft horse, a road horse, or a trotter or a pacer? Does the horse wing, paddle, speedy-cut or cross-fire, does he hit his ankles, shins, knees, arms, hocks, or elbows? Is his action too high or too low? Is he too long or too short gaited? Is he striding longer with one leg than another?

If you go to work and cut the feet down without taking some of these faulty things into consideration you are liable to get his feet just to the reverse way to what they should be, and place him in an uncomfortable position instead of a comfortable one. In preparing the bottom of a horse’s foot you must bear in mind that the foot can be fixed to straighten out different kinds of faulty action, and if you have not learned it by a close study of experimenting or by being taught by some one that knew all the different ways of balancing a foot on the leg to correct faulty action, then to learn this you will have to have it explained to you and you should see the job executed, see it done, and then go and see the results obtained, while the horse is in action. Then you will know that something is accomplished by scientifically fixing the feet to correct faulty action; you have to show people nowadays.

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