four weeks to keep the foot in health and strength and to 

 not overtax the structures above. Any extra length of the 

 horny wall weakens the horses' capacity for work. It may 

 be asked, how can this extra length of hoof weaken the 

 horse's natural strength. I will try and explain this as I 

 have done in the case with high heels. It is a universally 

 known principal of mechanical philosophy that we can either 

 increase or diminish the lifting capacity of a lever by either 

 lengthening or shortening that portion of it between the 

 fulcrum and the object to be lifted. Let us illustrate : If a 

 lever is placed upon a fulcrum four inches from the lifting 

 end, and is capable of raising 1200 pounds, and then remove 

 it to five inches from such end it can only raise 900 pounds, 

 with an equal degree of strain. This same rule applies to 

 the motion and management of horses' feet. If a normal 

 foot of a horse is four inches in length, measuring from the 

 hair to the point of the toe, then if it has grown to five 

 inches the horse has then lost one-fifth of its real strength. 

 By the extra inch that has grown away from the center of 

 the foot, because at each forward step he has to climb over 

 this extra inch of toe and this causes a strain on the back or 

 the flexer tendon at each time the foot is flex or lifted to 

 move forward; in other words, it is the same as driving a 

 horse up hill. You can now understand how a long or deep 

 toe weakens a horse's capacity for work. Dismiss your 

 idea that a horse pulling loads must have a toe calk on his 

 front shoes to do so, or that a trotting horse must have a 

 grab on the outer web on his front shoes to get a toe-hold. 

 A grab causes a horse to tire and can be the cause of losing 

 the race. It is at the last end of the mile, just about where 

 the money is paid, when he commences to fall back. It is 

 similar to that as winding up a clock, the last turn works the 

 hardest. A horse with only equal speed, with the toes of 

 his shoes slightly rolled on the home stretch passes the 

 horse that wears a grab. Put those calks or grabs on the 

 hind shoes, that is where they do more good, if any. In 



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