kind of a shoe. If you have a horse with a dropped sole, 

 or founder footed horse the bar shoe is the best kind for 

 such feet. It is also a good shoe to be used on feet where 

 expanders are used as the bar in the shoe will protect the 

 expander at times when an open shoe will not, and frog 

 pressure on the bar will also help to get expansion. The 

 most important thing to guard against is, do not drive any 

 nails back of the quarters because that will prevent ex- 

 pansion. Draft horses with wide low heels or thin soles 

 require bar shoes for the hard roads, as they stay sound 

 longer wearing bar shoes than in open shoes. For racing 

 purposes the bar shoe is very important for the front feet, 

 and occasionally for the hind feet, for both trotter and 

 pacer. Any horse racing or in training that carries a light, 

 or very light front shoe should by all means wear a bar 

 shoe, it is a great support to the foot when hitting the 

 ground hard and fast, as the natural expansion and con- 

 traction is at its limit while going at a fast rate of speed. 



For a heel-weight shoe you can get more weight in the 

 heels of a bar shoe than in an open shoe, which heel weight 

 the action of some horses requires more so than they do 

 toe weight. A trotter or pacer that spreads his hind shoes 

 or front shoes, should by all means wear bar shoes. The 

 last time I shod John R. Gentry for Mr. James Ramey, I 

 shod him with bar shoes all around with heel and toe 

 calks for that memorable race at Detroit in the 2:13 or 

 2:14 class, he won his race easily breaking the track record, 

 under strong restraint. He could have paced a very fast 

 mile or two that day if he had been asked to do it, he was 

 sold after this performance.. 



I have never seen many yearlings or two-year-olds that 

 needed a bar shoe while in training. It is a very bad shoe 

 for either yearling or two-year-old unless a hoof expander 

 is kept in the foot to prevent contraction and help expan- 

 sion, for the feet will surely get contracted without some- 



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