center the same as for mud. A smooth, flat 

 shoe and a rubber pad will possibly do on a 

 sand track, but a shoe of that kind with a plain 

 leather pad makes the going rather tiresome. 

 Of course the propelling power is behind, but 

 with that kind of foot adornment in front a 

 horse will sprawl, slip forward when he lands, 

 and the effort to get hold of the track will dis- 

 tress him. And if the sand is dry and fine and 

 the crevices in the middle and on each side of 

 the frog' are not properly packed your racer 

 may be carrying three or four ounces of sand 

 under each pad before the race is over, and 

 you'll say '4ie got pretty tired and labored 

 badly in the last heat ; I guess he didn't like 

 the track." And if the pads are removed the 

 following day you will understand why he labor- 

 ed when the sheer empties the "sand boxes." 



In preparing- the packing — oakum or anti- 

 septic cotton — for the feet, it should be twisted 

 into rolls about the size of your finger. And 

 after whatever preparation you are using has 

 been applied to the frog and bottom of the foot, 

 the packing should be pressed down into the 

 crevices of the frog and between the frog and 

 heels, and the middle of the foot should be 

 filled wMth the packing, but it should not be 

 rolled up so tight, or wadded in as hard as the 

 rolls you have forced down around the frog, 

 in such a manner that sand, gravel, etc., will 

 be excluded. If the foot is to have a spring in 

 it, put the softening preparation in first — after 

 preparing the foot — then a portion of the pack- 

 ing, then the spring and next finish packing 

 around the frog and heel and on top of the 



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