would be some scheme, but those extended branches would 

 be like a lever prying on the points of the heels at each time 

 the feet land when in motion. And the heels of the foot 

 would soon crumble away and aside from breaking down 

 the horse would be very apt to catch his shoes with his hind 

 feet, because his stride in front is short where the heels are 

 high. 



And it is the same tendon that flexes the foot when 

 leaving the ground so the high heels are causing the flexer 

 tendon to perform a double duty, carrying weight when 

 landing and flexing the foot when starting. The high heais 

 also cause a strain on the extensor tendon, even while the 

 horse is at rest if he stands in a natural position as the ex- 

 tensor tendon is inserted at the apex of the same foot bone. 

 The flexer and the extensor tendons are the two main ten- 

 dons that control the swing of the foot in a forward and 

 backward direction, therefore it is necessary to pare a foot 

 to an angle so that the tension of these two tendons is equal- 

 ly divided, that is one point in balancing the action of a 

 horse. Some horse trainers and caretakers, too, are gen- 

 erally very particular about a fraction of an ounce of weight 

 in a shoe, which really has nothing to do with balancing a 

 horse's gait. This shoeing horses twice in a day in order to 

 balance their gaits never appealed to me as sound judgment 

 and anyway some horses are like some men, they haven't 

 got a real balanced head. In such cases all the experiment- 

 ing with shoes amounts to nothing. There are other 

 things more important and more valuable to under- 

 stand and to look after. The main part as to shoe- 

 ing in balancing the swing of horses' feet is to 

 know first a healthy foot from a diseased one, a strong 

 foot from a weak one, conformation and formation of limb 

 and feet, etc. If all is well, then see to it that the foot is 

 pared to the right angle to suit the joints, tendons, and liga- 

 ments above. The weight of a shoe should be judged by 

 the strength and action of the foot ; that is to say, if a foot 



