quarter-boots ; for oftentimes a single blow on 

 the front coronets or quarters will cause a colt 

 to go sideways or hitch and hobble along for 

 weeks through fear of another blow in the 

 same place. 



My observations lead me to believe that the 

 youngsters that get their first lessons without 

 shoes, properly booted and bitted and on 

 straightaway tracks, make speed more satis- 

 factorily and become better gaited than colts 

 that are worked around the turns or on small, 

 oval tracks. ]\Iany a valuable colt has been 

 ruined by driving him at his top speed on a 

 small circular track, and many more have met 

 the same fate when the owner, groom or 

 trainer would snap a long rope into the colt's 

 halter, and with this long lead in one hand 

 and a whip in the other, "ring" him — make 

 him go in a small circle — every time he was 

 brought out for exercise or inspection. 



Traveling slow or fast in a small circle 

 causes the colt to shorten up his stride in the 

 front foot, that is on the inside — usually the 

 left one — and throw the hind foot on the same 

 side in between his front feet. He is liable 

 to form the habit of carrying his head side- 

 ways — or in one direction — and his hind parts 



in another. So that when you get ready to 

 hitch him it mav be necessarv to have a gait- 



ing pole on one end of him and a head stick 



on the other to make him go straight in the 



shafts. 



This is not horseshoeing, but it is the cause 

 of many defects in gait that the horseshoer 



11 



