is strong and without defects, a light shoe is the best to 

 adopt. If the foot is of the delicate order, then a couple of 

 more ounces of weight in the web of the shoe will be found 

 beneficial. So a half an ounce or even an ounce, one way 

 or the other in an otherwise well-balanced horse has noth- 

 ing to do with his speed or his balance. 



Well, I have drifted away from the subject of high 

 heels. As said before, high heels cause a strain on the ex- 

 tensor or front tendon, and for a horse to avoid straining 

 this tendon he will place his feet out of a perpendicular line 

 backward and in that way relieving the strain of the front 

 tendon. But the trouble of such position is, he adds extra 

 weight to his front extremities, because he has to relieve his 

 hind limbs from carrying their natural amount of weight 

 in order to balance himself or to keep himself from falling 

 backwards, so when you see a horse standing with his front 

 feet too far under himself it indicates that he is too high at 

 the heels. The horse in traveling tries to avoid jarring of 

 the heels, which makes his stride short and choppy and in 

 that way the front feet cannot keep time with the hind ones. 

 High heels can be the cause of a trotting horse being mix- 

 gaited and in this way of going his stride in front is irregu- 

 lar because he tries to keep time with his hind feet, then 

 again he feels the sting of the heels when landing which he 

 tries to avoid. 



In such cases the joints in or above the foot would be 

 pounded to pieces because the weight of the horse would 

 fall direct on the bones of the joints. It is generally known 

 and agreed, the horse with straight hock joints is subject to 

 bone spavin, because there is no spring to such joints as 

 there is to the joints that are more slanting or oblique. This 

 same rule applies to horses' front limbs, below the knee, 

 when he has to travel with high heels, and that can be the 

 cause of ring bone. 



It is always best to pare the heels like the rest of the 

 foot, to where they belong. Well, you know now, in part, 



