Part 7

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.

To help this horse to get away, I would change the angle of his front 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.