or you will be obliged to add five or six ounces 

 extra weight to each front foot to make him 

 square away, and if his temper begins to show 

 signs of breaking loose at any moment, get 

 after his feet; and if they are dry and hot, poul- 

 tice them with flaxseed poultices and, to hurry 

 the work along, tub him out twice a day for 

 a couple of days in warni rain water with a 

 double handful of bran in it. \\'hen the fever 

 in his feet is allayed, open up the heels well, 

 thin the soles of the feet as much as possible, 

 define the bars, and cut a deep groove with the 

 end of the shoeino- knife alono- each side of the 

 frog ; loosen everything up so you can take the 

 foot between the knees and with a hand on 

 each side of it spread it perceptibly with the 

 hands. Having prepared the foot in this man- 

 ner, put in a V-shaped spring, stifiF enough to 

 force the heels open about three-eighths of an 

 mch and hold them there. 



Many trainers object to a horse wearing a 

 spring when he is in training or while he is 

 racing, and their fears or objections are not 

 without good reasons, for if a spring is not 

 fastened at the toe of the foot and the horse 

 should happen to pull or thrown ofit a shoe while 

 going a fast mile, there is a chance that it 

 would come part way out and by his stepping 

 on it just right, one of the ends would be 

 forced into the frog or through the sole of the 

 foot. I never knew of but one instance of 

 this kind, but it proved a serious afTair. A 

 spring, however, can be put in in such a man- 

 ner as to make it absolutely safe for a horse 

 to be worked or raced with it in. After the 



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