Furthermore; trie center of the foot has its fixed place, 

 that is, the center of the foot is in the same place all of the 

 time. But the heels, like the toes, grow at a forward angle. 

 The toe, however, grows away from the center, while the 

 heels grow nearer to the center. In this unbalanced condi- 

 tion the heels are forced to carry extra weight while they 

 are in a weaker condition. 



Let us reason together and see in what way the heels 

 become weaker as we let them grow higher. Suppose we 

 take a stick of whale bone three feet long, place it in an up- 

 right position, then put a weight on top of it and see how 

 much it bends ; then take a stick of the same strength four 

 feet long, put the same amount of weight on it, we will find 

 that it bends or warps much more. And the same rule ap- 

 plies to horses' high heels. 



You know it is a general belief that high heels take the 

 strain off the back tendons, but that is only a theory and 

 not so in fact, for as soon as the horse is in motion his feet 

 are at a forward angle, when extended and landing on the 

 ground with the high heels it would cause the foot to rock 

 back, because they have grown too -close to the center of the 

 foot. Now, this back tendon which you intend to relieve 

 with high heels, is inserted on the bottom of the foot or cof- 

 fin bone. This foot bone is in the same position as the foot 

 is when the limb is extended. When the foot lands on the 

 ground the toe is slightly elevated, because the high heels 

 reach the ground before the foot is in position for other 

 parts of the foot can help to carry weight, so the cause of 

 the strain of the back tendon is because the high heels grew 

 too near the center of the foot. A horse on a trot carries 

 two-thirds of his weight on one front foot at a time, so 

 when the limb is fully extended the weight of the horse 

 would force the foot to rock back. It may be said if the 

 high heels are too close to the center to cause the foot to 

 rock back, why not extend the branches of the shoe to 

 where the foot ought to be with normal heels? Ha, that 



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