156 



Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



The whole method was meant to force the separation of fore and hind 

 extremities. This was done at the expense of the length of stride, 

 which is here but 14.95 ^ eet - The gait was rapid but stubby. She used 

 to have a longer and more sweeping stride when allowed to get under 

 herself with hind feet; but during this shoeing she improved with toe- 

 weight on near fore only. She took the turns better, the first quarter 

 in 35 seconds and a mile in 2:21, her best mile then. This toe-weight 

 increased the activity of off hind, counteracting the longer heel, which 

 was meant to give it better direction and to check its extension. The 

 toe-weights on both fore distributed their influence on both hind and at 

 the turns the off hind did probably not extend enough to effect proper 



FIG. 123 



FIG./2+ 



Extensions of fry. /23 



* 3 oz . fee we/a/)/- on near 



rolled a Hot, 



3.90in 



J)/sf. of-nh - /.37 -ff-. 



J)/s/- nf -oh = /.92 //. 



J)iff bet. pairs = .05 // 



or. 6 in. 



Average ctisf. = f.95 ft. 



Stride 



heel caUs -ouf side longer 



propulsion. When near fore only was weighted a better extension 

 of off hind was effected by the greater action of near fore. This led 

 me to have her shod, as given in Fig. 123, the shoeing being almost 

 identical with Fig. 121. The hind shoes were i oz. heavier each and 

 the heels were made alike on outside of both shoes. Besides, to over- 

 come the rapidity of stride the angles of hind were let down about one 

 degree. In the former shoeing the angle was taken with the shoes on, 

 but hind calks had somewhat worn, so that between that measurement 

 and this one on hoof directly made a. difference of about one degree less 

 for last shoeing. 



