WEIGHT. 229 



are certain nothing else will remedj^ the difficulty you 

 have encountered. It is a very nice thing to know just 

 when a horse wants more weight. You may fancy he 

 does not handle his fore legs promptly enough ; he may 

 break, or single-foot if urged, while, perhaps, you may 

 notice that he will go a little faster if you pull him a 

 little, the weight on the rein slightly altering the 

 balance. More weight in the shoe may be required, 

 and may prove helpful. If you decide to put on 

 weight, and it remedies the trouble, do not conclude 

 that it will ahva3^s be necessary to retain it. After a 

 reasonable time begin to reduce it gradually until you 

 get down, if possible, to eight or ten ounces.. But in 

 nine cases out of ten, where more weio-ht is thouo^ht 

 necessarv, the real cause of the trouble is that you are 

 asking the colt to go a little faster than he can. True, 

 weight maj^ for the time, help his speed ; but, on the 

 other hand, if you keep working him at a rate at 

 which he can go scjuare and clean, his speed will natu- 

 rally and gradually improve, and the final result will be 

 better than if you had resorted to artificial appliances. 

 I will, therefore, again say : Keep the colt going square 

 and true ; do not be impatient, and if he develops 

 roughness of gait, hitches, or becomes generally 

 unbalanced, go back to a gait at ^\ hich he can go level 

 and seek to improve his speed by natural training 

 before you experiment too much with his shoes. If 

 you are doing pretty well in a plain shoe of reasonable 

 weight — say eight to twelve ounces — be content ; if 

 you are carrying more than that allow the shoe to 

 graduall}^ decrease in weight. By gradually decreas- 

 ing I mean that wear will lighten it, and when you 



