IO4 Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



equally is a growing evil, as Roberge says ; and one shoeing does not 

 remedy a previous fault, unless we check that growth or confine it 

 within such definite limits as are required to effect the same or a better 

 balance. 



The four sections of the bare foot as given in Fig. 76, indicate the 

 four general directions in which the foot can "break over" or the point 

 at which there is the least resistance because it is the lowest point of 

 sole surface. The leverage of foot by the tendons, as it is rocked over, 

 is at such a point. Trimming the foot to offset this tendency, if neces- 

 sary and possible, is quite a difficult matter and requires an appreciation 

 and a knowledge of the effects in the gait. Lateral balance is one of 

 the hardest things to determine, in which shoers often fail to use suffi- 

 cient delicacy of workmanship. A slight rasping at any higher or 

 wider point of hoof, and one that removes no more than 1/16 inch or 

 even less, is often sufficient to direct the foot into a better line of 

 motion. The shoe being a perfect plane it should be so must rest 

 evenly all around against the rim of the foot. Therefore any lowering 

 at a certain point will have to be carefully extended and diminished 

 equally on both sides of that point, or else the shoe will not lie evenly 

 against the foot. Here again we have the principles of symmetry, 

 because we endeavor to tip the shoe or its plane next to rim toward 

 the point we lower. Merely lowering the hoof at one place of small 

 area does not give that plane the correct and effective incline. 



Perhaps it is unnecessary to explain, these matters to farriers, and 

 this book is not written entirely for them, but rather for the many 

 men who spend their money and time for the rational development of 

 the trotter and pacer. That is why I insist on recording the peculiar- 

 ities of either ,gait for the sake of correcting their faults ; and the diffi- 

 culty of lateral balance, or the direction of foot to either right or 

 left, compelled me to find exact positions of feet and their angles by 

 a median line, or a line of reference. midway between sulky wheels, as 

 given in Fig. 62, Although accuracy is required and an instrument 

 (Fig. 44) is necessary, no other or simpler method suggested itself. 



Experiments have proved to my mind that the principal work to be 

 done to effect a proper balancing of gait, or of motion and direction 



