MAT I^T HEK KEW SHOES. 341 



May will perform in her new shoes. They will induce a 

 higher lifting of the foot now than after she has worn 

 them for some time so that, if they are going to be of 

 service, they will show it at once. I have mentioned before 

 the great difference in a horse's action by a trifling differ- 

 ence in the weight of the shoes. A few ounces added or 

 subtracted, inequality of the sides, lowering either side by 

 a greater reduction of the horn, is often followed by a 

 change that no one would have credited without a trial. 

 By changing the shape of the ground surface of a horse's 

 foot even structural defects may be overcome, and the 

 bias arising from malformation be remedied. You can 

 also buclde the roll on to May's right hind pastern, which 

 will guard it against injury, and will give her confidence 

 as well as protection. "We are wonderfully fortunate in 

 our experiments, having been, in a measure, successful in 

 all we have undertaken. May will soon go as straight as 

 any of them. When driving her, in the future, confine 

 her to the stretches when you speed her, and it will be as 

 well to turn her every time you come through, so as only 

 to traverse this part of the track. 



Between now and dinner we will consider what is further 

 to be done towards the conditioning of the older horses, 

 and in educating the younger. The Falcon there is no 

 difficulty with. He will take all the work necessary to 

 prepare him for any kind of a race. For the ensuing week, 

 prolong his work to jogging five miles, with a mile or so 

 at a three-and-a-half gait. His feed can be increased to 

 ten quarts of the mixed feed per day. As he has become 

 as tractable on the track as on the road, you can vary the 

 locality of the work of all of the horses, by driving once 

 or twice in the week on the smoothest, and softest road 

 you can find. In three days you can prepare Falcon for 

 a sweat, the same as we did Never Mind, only he can have 

 his usual allowance of hay until the night before we give 



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