MAY'S ACTION WITH II EE FEET. 203 



has when going straight. We will try what a change of 

 shoes will do for her, having those for her hind feet con- 

 siderably heavier than the ones she now wears, hoping the 

 higher action they will cause, will in her case result bene- 

 ficially. When these are put on, we will have to watch 

 her action very carefully ; and if that does not effect a 

 cure, boots will have to be resorted to. As I have already 

 told you, I do not like to use boots when they can be got 

 along without ; they cramp a horse when going fast, and 

 much care is required in their construction to prevent 

 them chafing the skin. Unfortunately, there are cases 

 when they cannot be dispensed with, and many that re- 

 quire a great deal of ingenuity to fit them properly to the 

 place intended to be covered. Cutting between the coronet 

 and upper pastern joint is very bad ; that place being so 

 difficult to protect with a boot, the motion of the joint, 

 united to the tenderness of the skin, causing abrasion al- 

 most sure to follow. I think a very light buck-skin roller, 

 made large, and stuffed with deer-hair, will also be of ad- 

 vantage. The wound when she cuts on the place you 

 mentioned is probably made with the inner edge of the 

 shoe on the near fore foot; and as an additional protection, 

 we will have that part of the shoe rounded, and set a little 

 inside the crust. You tell me she never cuts when driven 

 on the road; and I noticed, when coining towards me, that 

 her motion was regular. She necessarily must do the 

 damage, then, when going round the turn ; and by using 

 the heavier shoe she may be enabled to go clear. Ask any 

 horseman how a horse moves his legs in the trot, and the 

 ready answer will be, that the left fore foot and right hind 

 one move simultaneously, and when they strike the ground 

 the others are elevated, carrying the body along. This is 

 very true when the pace is slow ; when it becomes fast, 

 and a horse is stretching from sixteen to twenty feet, there 

 must be a bound similar to the running horse, as no horse 



