Experiments and their Verification 119 



general law. It is the rule for all experiments, especially where so 

 many conditions prevail as in balancing equine locorrfotion, to vary but 

 one thing at a time. When the observer is face to face with a case for 

 which an immediate remedy is asked, he is apt to rush into at once 

 applying various changes. Time, which is so essential a part of bal- 

 ance, is not granted, and impatience demands a quick remedy. A lack 

 of knowledge of the intricate inter-relation of the four moving legs 

 and the indifference to any proof, sucfi as measurements show, will 

 leave the matter of improving the gait to the doubtful process of 

 guessing. 



These facts make experimenting extremely difficult, and sometimes 

 unsatisfactory. If, therefore, one change in shoeing does not prove to 

 be beneficial, it should not be conclusive evidence that such a change in 

 itself is harmful. Another change in combination with the first may 

 lead to better results. But without any evidence such as the ground 

 produces, no rational improvement of the various conditions of balance 

 can be effected. What evidence is there? has always been my query 

 previous to planning my present analysis of gait. It was on this ac- 

 count that I was not quite fully convinced of the truth of all of Ro- 

 berge's assertions, no matter how plausible and conclusive they ap- 

 peared to be, until repeated experiments proved his theory of pointing 

 to be correct in its main principles and deductions. This method of 

 analyzing the gait revealed certain facts, and the experiments based on 

 them yielded results which seemed to prove the usefulness of such an 

 investigation. The method itself is a logical indicator of correction 

 and may aid the natural ingenuity of the American farrier in the ap- 

 plication of the proper shoes. The more I saw that practical and 

 permanent results came from a methodical analysis of a gait, the 

 more it became evident that at all stages of development it was neces- 

 sary to have an absolute proof not only of the manner of motion, but 

 also of the results of the applied corrections. 



It has seemed to me that the presentation of this whole matter of 

 the analysis of the gait is a little premature, inasmuch as it does not 

 give as ample a proof for the pacer as it does for the trotter, and be- 

 cause the corrective shoeing here discussed may not cover every case 



