eye, all at the same time. The frog of the horse's foot 

 should never be cut, if it is in a healthy state. A diseased 

 frog that has loose fragments hanging to it may be trimmed 

 off so as not to be holding filth. Never cut the heels open 

 with a knife or rasp to make the foot look wider across the 

 heels, a practice that has long existed with some people. It 

 is unnatural, it helps to contract the heels, and shortens the 

 bearing surface from toe to heel. Any one that does this 

 is dangerous. Trimming out the frog, opening the heels 

 with the knife, cutting out the bars, and too much of the 

 sole, will give you a hoofbound and contracted sore-footed 

 horse, it will help to shorten up his gait and sometimes 

 make him rough gaited. Feet of this kind cannot stand 

 the jar or concussion that feet can that have been properly 

 treated. 



III. A TROTTER INCLINED TO SINGLEFOOT 

 AND PACE. 



The first thing to do is to change the angle of his 

 front feet to a longer one by rasping the quarters and heels 

 down several degrees, do not take anything off the toes. 

 The hind feet should be in length and angle nearly the 

 same as the front feet, perhaps an eighth of an inch shorter 

 at the toe, and within 3 degrees of the same angle. The 

 second thing is to add about 3 or 4 ounces more weight to 

 the front shoes, and a little more if needed, after you have 

 tried the former. If the horse carries a toe weight put 

 it on also. The third thing to do is to put calks on the 

 hind shoes, toe and heel, using as light a shoe as possible. 

 The fourth thing to do is to allow the animal to go as 

 low headed as possible, this is very important. The changes 

 in the footing of different tracks will sometimes cause a 

 horse to become all unbalanced. Slipping is very bad for a 

 horse when at speed ; it unbalances the action and creates 

 muscle soreness, and the poor animal is made to suffer tor- 



-6- 



