DEVELOP SPEED IN HORSES. 17 



file the heads of the nails down even with the shoe, 

 then the clinches will not work out to bother you. 

 And here is something I want you to recollect about 

 shoeing for interfering or knee knocking. Don't ever 

 take any portion of the wall of the foot away in any case. 

 All you take off the inside of the feet just so much nearer 

 together the horse's feet will be whether in motion or 

 standing, and you spoil the shape of the foot and weaken 

 it. Horses sometimes interfere and hit themselves with- 

 out any fault of the shoer. Perhaps the animal has not 

 learned to travel, is weak, or a dozen other causes no 

 blacksmith is responsible for. 



In bringing your horse in from a drive after he has 

 acquired some strength, let him come home in shape, so 

 you can scrape a little sweat out of him after he has 

 stood with a woolen sheet on him a few minutes, or while 

 you are hanging up his harness. If he breaks out in 

 perspiration strip off the sheet and scrape him out as dry 

 as possible and throw the sheet over his back and loins, 

 and commence and rub out his head and ears and neck, 

 and finally his whole body Don't put him in the stall 

 until he is cooled off, so he will not break out again. It 

 may take three quarters of an hour, probably; you need 

 not rub all the time. Pin the sheet on him and walk 

 him around in the sun and out of a draft, and before you 

 get done with him wash out his feet clean and brush him 

 all over; brush out his mane and foretop and tail, but 

 don't tear out any hair. If it is time to feed now, give 

 him a suck of water and his dinner, and go and get your 

 own. The best rubbers I have ever seen are Ashton salt 

 sacks cut into four pieces. Always have plenty of clean, 

 dry rubbers on hand; you can't dry out a horse with a 

 dirty, damp rubber. There is considerable work about 

 training one horse if you do all the work yourself. But 

 your ingenuity will devise some way to get along with 

 the work. I have never seen a man yet who liked to ride 

 behind a good horse and do the driving, but who would 

 manage some way to have some body around the barn 

 when he got back to help do up the trotter. 



