Part 4

A good rule in fixing feet, and you will find it true nine times out of ten, is, when fixing front feet, always cut the outside from toe to heel down first, unless you are shoeing a paddler, then cut the inside of the foot down to a level to correspond with the outside that was fixed first. The reason for fixing feet in this manner, is, if you should cut the inside down first chances are you would not be able to cut the outside to a level with the inside, for you will cut to the sensitive part, on the outside of a front foot, quicker than the inside, and it is just to the reverse with hind feet. The front feet should not be left high on the outside, unless the horse is a paddling gaited one, for it creates friction, or a strain on landing and leaving the ground, it also helps to create faulty action. Nearly all the hard shin, knee and arm hitters I have come in contact with, their front feet were highest on the outside, low on inside, or a contracted inside quarter, and sometimes a very badly contracted inside quarter at that. To fix front feet of trotters and pacers for different purposes or ways of going you can refer to the index on the different subjects in this book.

There is very little attention paid to the hind feet. They try to get them the same length and angle, but there are very few hind feet properly fixed to control a perfect line of action, to lengthen or shorten the stride, to close or widen the action or to elevate or lower the action. There are very few floormen that can level and balance a hind foot. In preparing it for a shoe to correct faulty action, the majority of them do not know how to hold the leg to look at the bottom of the foot to tell which side is highest. They should keep in mind while fixing the foot, the results they are trying to get; if they do not, they are liable to get the foot too low on one side or the other. A hind foot that is left the highest on the inside is a dangerous weapon to a trotter or pacer; it will cause injury to ankle ligaments and to bones of the foot. In the majority of cases the angle of a hind foot should be several degrees shorter than the angle of the front feet. A hind foot that is left the highest on the inside on a trotter or pacer will have a tendency to close up the line of action of the hind leg and create cross-firing and shin, hock, ankle and pastern hitting. As the coffin or pedal bone of a horse’s foot is symmetrical in shape, it is not proper to have wings of abnormal growth more on one side of the foot than on the other, for this constitutes an unbalanced foot. If it measures more on one side of the foot than on the other, from the center of the frog, make both sides alike, to balance up matters and to conform with the shape of the coffin bone inside; if the toe of one foot is longer than that of the other it creates a longer leverage to leave the ground from, therefore the stride of that leg would naturally be a little longer, everything else being equal. If the heels of one foot are left higher than those of its mate, the stride would be a little shorter and the jar or concussion greater. A good rule in fixing hind feet is, always cut or rasp the inside of foot down first, because you can always get the outside of a hind foot cut down to the level of the inside. A foot should be fixed so that the leg will be kept in the middle of the foot. If the foot has a contracted quarter, one side or the other, you cannot do it until the contracted quarter is expanded, which is easily done (see article on contracted feet). It is difficult to fix feet to suit the leg, and line of action, and also some people’s eye, all at the same time. The frog of the horse’s foot should never be cut, if it is in a healthy state. A diseased frog that has loose fragments hanging to it may be trimmed off so as not to be holding filth. Never cut the heels open with a knife or rasp to make the foot look wider across the heels, a practice that has long existed with some people. It is unnatural, it helps to contract the heels, and shortens the bearing surface from toe to heel. Any one that does this is dangerous. Trimming out the frog, opening the heels with the knife, cutting out the bars, and too much of the sole, will give you a hoofbound and contracted sore-footed horse, it will help to shorten up his gait and sometimes make him rough gaited. Feet of this kind cannot stand the jar or concussion that feet can that have been properly treated.

III. A TROTTER INCLINED TO SINGLEFOOT AND PACE.

The first thing to do is to change the angle of his front feet to a longer one by rasping the quarters and heels down several degrees, do not take anything off the toes. The hind feet should be in length and angle nearly the same as the front feet, perhaps an eighth of an inch shorter at the toe, and within 3 degrees of the same angle. The second thing is to add about 3 or 4 ounces more weight to the front shoes, and a little more if needed, after you have tried the former. If the horse carries a toe weight put it on also. The third thing to do is to put calks on the hind shoes, toe and heel, using as light a shoe as possible. The fourth thing to do is to allow the animal to go as low headed as possible, this is very important. The changes in the footing of different tracks will sometimes cause a horse to become all unbalanced. Slipping is very bad for a horse when at speed; it unbalances the action and creates muscle soreness, and the poor animal is made to suffer torture by some of the drivers or trainers, because the animal does not perform as well on a track that don’t suit the shoeing as he did on a previous occasion that did suit, the same way shod. I must say in reference to trotters that are inclined to singlefoot and pace that in fixing the hind feet I would prefer to get the angle of the hind feet as near to the angle of the front feet as possible, because it helps to confine them to the pure trot. The shorter the toe and angle of the hind feet as compared with the front, the quicker they will go into a singlefoot and pace. The causes of the roughness in the gait of the trotter are that the feet are at too short an angle, not carrying weight enough in front, and checked too high, or slipping too much.

IV. CAUSES FOR BECOMING ROUGH GAITED.

The front feet or the hind feet are not mates, or high heels on one foot and low heels on the opposite; they are cut too low on one side to hang level compared with the opposite side of the same foot, a long toe on one foot and a short toe on the opposite foot; these variations create a different angle, when it should be the same; that is, the front feet should be mates and the hind feet should be mates. Cutting out the frog, bars and sole, and opening the heels with the knife will also lead to a rough gait when the foot is dry and hard, and the horse strikes a hard track at speed. Carrying head too high, too low, or to one side, or pulling on bit too strong will do the same thing.

After fixing the front feet as directed, do not leave the heels on the hind feet high or the toes of the hind feet too short, fix the hind feet by leaving the toes long enough and the heels low enough to create an angle to within a few degrees the same as the front feet. This will prevent breaking over too quick which increases the liability to singlefoot, and fixing hind feet this way lengthens the stride and helps to confine the action to the trot longer and purer.

V. SHIN HITTING OF THE FRONT LEGS.

A foot left too high on the outside from centre of toe back to the outside heel will cause this. Some travel very close and others wing in: this winging in is not always because of an imperfect or unbalanced foot, sometimes it is caused by a deformity of the leg, or a contraction of the muscles or ligaments, sometimes they will be either longer or stronger on one side of the leg than on the other, which has a tendency to control winging or paddling. To fix a foot that is hitting the shins of the front legs, shorten the toe to a natural length foot, while doing this keep lowering the outside of the foot, leaving the inside of the foot quite a bit higher, by actual measurement, in some cases a quarter of an inch higher or longer is not too much. Shoe with a plain shoe or a side weight shoe with the heavy side of shoe on the inside of each foot, the heavy or wider side of the shoe will prevent sinking in the ground, which will help matters. Bevel or hot rasp the inside edge of shoe from the inside toe back to the quarters. Shoe with the weight that the horse goes best with.

VI. HOW TO MAKE A SHOE TO PREVENT WINGING IN.

Make a heavy side weight shoe, the same kind of shoe as for a paddler but the weight or heavy side of shoe will have to be on the inside of the foot. Fix the feet, according to article in this book on winging in, to receive this shoe. Bevel or round off the inside toe back to quarters on this shoe. With the foot properly fixed for this shoe there will be an immediate change. If a toe weight is used keep spur towards inside toe from centre of foot but not far enough to hit knee boot.

VII. SHIN HITTING OF THE HIND LEGS.

There are different causes for this trouble. In the trotter it is because the hind action and the front action do not work in harmony with one another. Excessive hind action will cause it, or excessive front action in some cases will cause it. A front foot that is highest or longest on the outside toe will cause it. What will cause it the quickest and more severely is a high inside on the hind foot, especially on a horse that has been going open gaited behind. If your horse has plenty of action in front and is going in a medium light shoe I would advise you to level his hind feet; be sure and do not have the inside of hind feet the highest (which is nearly always the case), but if anything have it a shade the lowest, and shoe the hind feet with an outside weight shoe several ounces heavier than he has been carrying; this will widen his hind action and when he gets to going the weight will keep him outside and clear. This weight can be decreased as his gait is being perfected. The most particular part of this will be to get his feet properly prepared to help the line of action.

Perhaps your horse is short in his front action, low and dwelling gaited, too much so for his hind action, if so, shoe him in front with heavier shoe, say 5 ounce heavier or even more as the case may need, bevel or roll the toe, also bevel the outside edge from the outside toe to heel of front shoes where the shin hitting is done. If your horse wings in towards his knees or arms, the inside of front feet should be left the highest. I prefer in shoeing such horses to keep them going as close in line as possible with hind legs and if he cannot, without interference, then they will have to go outside (see article on how to widen hind action).

VIII. KNEE AND ARM HITTING.

This has been a great worry to “the smart set,” “the know it alls” for many years, as to what causes it, and what to do to help or prevent it. Winging in is caused sometimes by a deformity, or by contracted muscles or ligaments stronger on one side of the leg than on the other; sometimes deformed feet, or a badly contracted inside quarter will be the cause of some of this trouble, because the weight of the horse at the ankle drops over the inside heel instead of coming down in the middle of the foot. A contracted inside quarter and a high or long outside toe are dangerous weapons for a horse to be carrying, one of these at a time is bad enough, but when a foot is troubled with both it is very bad. If your knee or arm hitter has a contracted quarter on a front foot, the first thing to do is to get a hoof expander and expand the contracted quarter. This will be an important step towards getting the leg in the middle of the foot. In all my experience with knee and arm hitters I have found the offending foot too high on the outside, with the most of the foot from the center of the frog on the outside of the leg. With height and width of foot on the outside of the leg, it is just contrary to science. To straighten the line of action this needs to be reversed; edge up the outside edge of the foot from the outside toe to the point at quarters as much as it will stand, do it at every shoeing and you will be getting the leg closer to the middle of the foot. If you can get a little more of the foot on the inside of the leg than is on the outside, it will be a benefit to a bad knee and arm hitter. Another thing, the shorter the toe or angle of a knee hitter the easier he can leave the ground and the less he will wing in, and the lighter will be the blow if he hits. The knee hitter should be shod as lightly as he will go at speed, balanced. The lighter the weight he is carrying the lighter the blow if he strikes. The best kind of a shoe for a knee hitter is a side weight shoe with the heavy side on the inside of the foot; good results are obtained with heel and toe calks, the toe calks well set back on the toe of the shoe.

These calks on the shoe of a knee and arm hitter should be a little thin so as to catch hold of the ground as the foot goes to twist before he picks it up; they will prevent a certain amount of twisting while the body of the animal is gliding over the weight-bearing portion of the leg as the foot leaves the ground. They will have a tendency to make him break over squarer and not so hard on the outside toe as the foot is leaving the ground. Now if your knee hitter wears a toe weight attach it towards the inside toe as far as possible but not far enough to the inside so as he will strike the opposite leg with it. When the feet of a knee hitter have been gotten in the shape as described herein and shod accordingly; why, the horse will think that he has been baptized and born over again. A perfect foot is rare, but with good judgment, a good eye and a little patience and perseverance a lot can be accomplished that will surprise some of those that think they know it all. In a knee hitter, also in an arm hitter, the bones of the foot and leg do not work true in their sockets, clear up to the knee, even the joint at the knee does not work true, the knee joint has a faulty motion, instead of breaking straight forward, it breaks out sideways as the rest of the leg starts to wing in. By building the foot mostly to the inside of the leg and having width and height of foot on the inside you are taking some of the power away that causes the winging in, and the breaking outward of the knee. It is something strange, but I have known knee and shin and arm hitters to be turned out with their shoes on in paddocks, and you would seldom see them hurt themselves, but put the harness on, hitch them up, and start them at speed and take a pull of 75 or 100 pounds on their lower jaw and the trouble would begin. The directions in this article for fixing the foot for knee and arm hitting are also the surest remedy for horses that toe out badly, a fault that is so objectionable to all horsemen. If you use a sideweight shoe on a front foot to prevent shin, knee and arm hitting, the heavy part of shoe should be on the inside of foot, but if you leave the outside of the foot one-sixteenth or one-eighth of an inch higher than the inside, you will be working against the results you are looking for.

It looks strange to many people that an outside weight shoe to a front foot has a tendency to make a horse wing in, and the same shoe applied to a hind foot will widen the hind action, with the foot fixed for that purpose. If you can fix the foot properly to control the line of action that you want, you will surely accomplish something. You should know what angle suits the action best. The foot should be symmetrical in shape to conform with the coffin bone, have no more foot on one side of the frog than on the other side, and the bearing surface to hang so as the foot will land on and leave the ground as square or level as possible.

IX. JOGGING A KNEE KNOCKER WINTER AND SPRING, AND THE BEST WAY TO SHOE AND FIX THE FOOT TO DEVELOP THE MUSCLES.

Lower the outside of the foot of the winging in leg, and keep it the lowest. Shoe the foot with a very light shoe, plain or bar shoe, have a side pocket weight made that will carry from 6 to 9 ounces of lead with a spur on it; cut or burn a hole in the bottom edge of the foot midway between toe and heel for the spur, buckle it tight to foot, the weight to be on inside of foot. If the horse wings in with both front feet use the pocket weights on both feet and fix both feet as directed above. This will have a wonderful effect in developing muscle while taking his slow work that will help to prevent winging in so bad when he begins faster work. This knee knocker should be shod with a side weight shoe, the heft of weight on inside of foot, shoe should be very light on outside. This shoe should be made thick on inside with a bevel thinned towards the outside toe, a difficult shoe to make to be used when pocket weights are discarded for fast work.

X. A BAD SHIN, KNEE AND ARM HITTER, TROTTER.

A chronic shin, knee and arm hitter was a horse called Rustler, owned at Richmond, Va. In the early part of the summer that he raced so well, he was working miles around 2:41 and 2:42 but very unsteady, breaking continually. He would begin by hitting his shins, as speed was increased he would hit his knees and arms so hard that he would not stay on the trot. He was brought to me to shoe by his colored groom, who also brought his boots, as I had never seen the horse in action, but after seeing the boots he wore, I saw at a glance he needed as far as gaiting or balancing was concerned, to be regenerated. He was a large horse, and his feet had not grown much from the last shoeing so as I could change them to my liking. I was informed that he went best in light shoes, but the owner told me to use my own judgment, so I did. I made a pair of sideweight shoes, 18 ounces with toe and heel calks, the heavy side of shoes on the inside of each front foot, the outside of each front shoe as light as possible. After leveling his hind feet, a light shoe with heel calks was put on. The owner, Mr. C. J. Smith of Richmond, Va., came to the shop and looked at the front shoes and did not like the job, as to the weight and the calks, thinking if he did not knock a leg off, he would cut boots and legs to smithereens. I told him I would change them if he thought it best, but before I got ready to take them off he said leave them on and I will try them and see what he will do with them. The groom drove him out to the track, and Mr. Smith, being present, ordered the groom to drive him a slow mile as the trainer was not there; he worked the second mile so easy that he was worked another easy mile in 2:21, the last quarter well within himself in 33 seconds without a break, over the same half-mile track on which he could not beat 2:41 previous to this shoeing. They said when he got on his stride there was nothing the matter with him. I had not heard from the horse for nearly a week when one day as the owner was driving by I hailed him asking how was Rustler, he said “he is all right, there isn’t a thing the matter with him.” He went to the races, started in at Baltimore, Maryland, and after winning seven or eight consecutive races, finished at Readville a close second in 2:12. Most of his races were won in the same front shoes it took to balance him, and yet some writers will say you cannot get immediate results.

XI. SHIN, KNEE AND ARM HITTING PACER.

H. J. Rockwell and Rustler a pacer and trotter respectively, would hit and cut their boots something terrible. I took H. J. Rockwell away from his knees by the mode of foot fixing and shoeing hereinbefore prescribed and that made a race horse of him, whereas he had been hitting his knees for several years. While he was hitting his knees he was rated as a quitter, but after he began to beat horses like “B. B.” over the half-mile tracks, the race followers wanted to know from his trainer, the late F. M. Dodge, what he had done to him. I mention this particular case because the public or horsemen that knew this horse knew he was a tough proposition to balance.

XII. ELBOW HITTING.

Some horses do this when being speeded. It is caused by excessive knee action, in folding up of the leg, also in the flexing of the pastern joint. It is faulty or lost action. For elbow hitting, as a rule, the horse should be made to go in as light a shoe as possible, he should get his training with his front feet kept as low as possible at the quarters and heels and the foot at an angle of about 49 degrees, he should be shod as light as possible with plain or bar shoes, and with as light a toe weight as possible, for the more toe weight he carries the harder he will go to his elbows. Most all elbow hitters hit their elbows with the toes of the shoe while the knee is being elevated. It would be a hard matter for a horse to hit his elbows with the heels of the shoes with the knee extended and elevated, for at this time is when the fold of the knee and flexing of the pastern causes the toe of the shoe to strike against the elbow. If preparing the foot for the shoe as stated above and shoeing the feet light does not stop the elbow hitting apply a bar shoe with most all the weight in the bar and quarters of the shoe, the shoe being light as possible around the toe where the nail holes are punched. Be sure and have the quarters and heels as low as possible. The reason for low quarters and heels on an elbow hitter is, that it makes a longer angle to leave the ground from, and it gives a longer bearing surface behind the leg, to receive the weight that is in the quarters and bar of the shoe which is put there to prevent some of the folding of the knee and some of the flexing of the pastern that causes the interference. I have been very successful shoeing elbow hitters with this kind of a shoe. All elbow hitters should be worked to go as low headed as possible, a standing martingale works well on some. If you put on too much of a toe weight on some horses that go close to their elbows it will drive their action to, or against their elbows. Now this being the case, if toe weights will drive him to his elbows a heel weight will usually prevent folding against the elbows.

Now in making this shoe for an elbow hitter it will be necessary to add from four to six ounces more weight to the shoes than he has been carrying, but put it all in the quarters and bar at the heels, and keep adding weight to the heels of front shoes until he stops hitting his elbows. This kind of a shoe is to be used when a very light shoe fails to prevent elbow hitting. Squaring the toe of the shoe will also help to lighten the blow, or take him that much farther away from his elbows.

To decrease the lofty folding action of elbow hitters the foot should be placed at an angle of from 47 to 49 degrees or as near to that as possible, and add the amount of weight of shoes he has been carrying to the toe weight and also add not less than four or five ounces more to each of a pair of heel weight shoes, when a light one did not answer. Do not use any toe weight, but if the heel weight bar shoes are not heavy enough, a heavier shoe or quarter boot can be used.