2O2 Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



in. front have a better effect on the rapidly gaited trotters and toe- 

 weights bring apparently the best results on those with a longer reach. 

 Equally heavy shoes in front seem to increase elevation rather than 

 extension of action; they help to balance the horse by giving the 

 action in front a certain regularity and steadiness. 



The direct effect of weight in the shoe provided the same is 

 equally distributed in the web occurs with the flexion rather than 

 with the unfolding of the leg; in fact, it increases the flexion of the 

 leg if so directed by tne shape of the shoe. 



To illustrate the relative flexion of fore and hind legs again, let 

 me call attention to Fig. 156. It represents a simple piece of machin- 

 ery such as the eye presumes to see on one side of a trotter. Let A B 

 be the body and A C H the hind and B D F the front articulation in 



M N P o 



general. The direct effect of weight on H will be upward (M H) 



and forward while the angle at C closes ; while the same effect on F 



will be also upward (N F) but backward while the angle at D closes. 



The flexions both at C and D are here presumed to be at their 



4 



greatest point, and H as well as F at their highest elevation. The re- 

 maining parts of the paths H P and F O have therefore a downward 

 tendency, with this difference: C having reached its greatest eleva- 

 tion, its angle unfolds or opens more readily, and the momentum of 

 the weight in shoe is therefore more readily transmitted in a more 

 forward direction, while D, though at its greatest point of flexion, is 

 raised still higher (E), when its angle opens, and in the path of F the 

 momentum of shoe is therefore transmitted in a more dowmvard di- 

 rection. In other words, at the unfolding of the hind leg the mo- 

 mentum of weight is directed in a more horizontal line, while at the 



