16 BAY SEED, OR HOW TO 



CHAPTER V. 



SHOEING, BOOTS, CARE AFTER WORK, iiTC. 



Up to this time, perhaps, you have seen no occasion to 

 change his shoeing, except to have them removed and re- 

 set, which ought to be done once in three weeks at tbe 

 longest. You now want to observe closely how he carries 

 his legs, and if he is brushing himself anywhere. Young 

 horses often exhibit a propensity to shove the hind foot 

 under the front foot and brush the hoof up at the coro- 

 net, which is called " scalping." If your horse does f/iis, 

 get a pair of scalping boots the first thing you do, and 

 wear them on him in this work. Horses do this scalping 

 while jogging, but it gets them into the habit of single 

 footing, and when they get this habit it takes a long 

 time to restore their confidence so they will go square 

 again. All horses, or nearly all that can go fast, go with 

 their hind feet outside of their forward ones. You also 

 want to observe if this horse brushes his hind pasterns 

 with the outside of the shoes of the front feet ; this is 

 called speedy cutting. If your horse, in your judgment, 

 -can show indications of a three minute clip or better, 

 look out for this speedy cutting business. If you are 

 working him on a half mile tsack he will probably brush 

 himself here while making the turns, which will have the 

 -eff'ect to scare him and make him unsteady and break. 

 Now if your horse ever goes to a break when he is mov- 

 ing within his speed, he has hit himself somewhere, and 

 you should get right out and see about it at once. 

 If, upon examination, you find he has hit himself, don't 

 start him up again until he is protected. If he is shod 

 all right don't expect to remedy the difficulty by chang- 

 ing shoes unless the trouble is apparent. Clinches some 

 times work out by the head of the nail striking a 

 stone and driving it up; to avoid this have the shoer 



