114 Gait of tJie American Trotter and Pacer 



The rolling motion shoe has found favor principally as applied 

 to fore feet, but it is as favorable in its effect in the hind action. In 

 Fig. 87 is represented a hind shoe that is 1 safe and well adapted to in- 

 crease hock action without increasing extension ; that is to say, like 

 all the rocker pattern shoes, it shortens the radius of rotation and 

 thereby lifts the foot higher and more quickly. 



The general objection to higher action behind is the fear of loss 

 of forward extension ; and with this fear is coupled the struggle to get 

 the fore feet out of the way of the hind feet. All of this proves that 

 the action and extension of the hind feet have been much neglected, 

 or but little understood. My experiments will throw some light on 

 this question. 



Again, the use of square toes, as may be expected, shortens the 

 extension and quickens the action because of the shorter leverage be- 

 tween heel and toe. Bars across the heels of shoes, besides acting as 

 a protection, have the effect of rolling foot forward by preventing a 

 sinking or anchoring of heels in ground. Likewise the various appli- 

 cations of calks on web of shoe, lengthwise or crosswise, or the full 

 bar across the whole shoe, as in the so-called "Memphis shoe," are 

 nothing but a modification of the rocker pattern with the added im- 

 provement of safety from slipping and of effectiveness in taking hold 

 of the ground. The various devices known to all good shoers, such 

 as the creasing of shoe, or bars, or concave or scooped toe, or 

 weighting web, and all the rest, must be left to the emergencies of each 

 case; but I believe that most devices applied are unnecessary tortures 

 added to hard training; and their effect can be produced better by 

 proper training or balancing of hoof itself and in most cases are ap- 

 plied merely because they are presumed to improve the gait. No 

 ground evidence is sought, and the improvement of the gait remains a 

 matter of chance and of guess-work. 



IV. SIMPLICITY OF RIG AND THE NEED OF TIME. 



Let us now consider the various devices of straps and boots and 

 poles and bits and harness and checking the head. As with shoes, so 



