Experiments and their Verification 147 



hind necessary at the turns could thus be accomplished, as well as by a 

 slight lean to the left side, which would naturally be effected more 

 easily by this slight increase in length of outside leg or foot. All in 

 all, however, this adjustment of the hind shoes effected an equalization 

 of hind extension; for, the near with its heavier shoe and shorter toe 

 may be considered to offset the off with its lighter shoe and longer 

 toe plus its longer heels, so that the effect of the last two conditions 

 longer toe and longer heel was somewhat modified by the counter- 

 action of the near hind. Subsequent investigations will make this more 

 clear. 



It will also be noticed that the toes of fore are longer in Fig. 1 1 1 

 than they were at previous trial of Fig. 109. This was due to the fact 

 that hind shoes only were new, the front shoes remaining on, showing 

 as usual the continual growth of foot, a fact against which David Ro- 

 berge warns by saying, "the growing foot is a growing evil." But 

 sometimes a little increase in length of toe enables the animal to move 

 better and faster. The trial proved satisfactory and a subsequent mile 

 in 2 127 in a vigorous, smooth fashion was a pretty fair result. 



At this trial the stride averaged 15.88 feet and the variations 

 for each leg from this average were comparatively smaller or of lesser 

 extent than at the trial of shoeing given under Fig. 109, where the 

 average stride was 18.24 feet. The greater the speed and the longer 

 the stride in consequence, the less are the variations of the strides of 

 each individual leg; but the faults of gait, though less perceptible, are 

 still there under cover of great exertion. The intermediate speed is, 

 therefore, more preferable, not only for detecting faults, but also for 

 correcting same. Allowance must, however, be made for the greater 

 effectiveness of any remedy applied and tested at great speed. We 

 must try to administer homeopathic or small doses only for extreme 

 speed. 



In order to further see the effect of different lengths of feet, the 

 shoeing of 18 days after that of Fig. in is shown in Fig. 113, with 

 position of feet expressing their extensions in Fig. 114. There is a 

 decrease in extension of left fore due to forced extension of right fore 

 by means of a shorter foot with reference to left fore. Partly in- 



