2 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



The art of training trotters has made rapid advancement in the 

 last decade, and the importance of liaving them shod properly, and 

 the adaptation of the shoe to the animal, has been fully acknowl- 

 edged. Every trainer who gives the subject much thought, is aware 

 of the great change in the action which can be bi-ought about by 

 shoeing. The stride of the " long-gaited " hoi'se can be shortened, 

 more or less knee-action induced, a tendency to interfere, or the 

 wounding of the shin or knee done away with, by a change in the 

 shoes. The race-horse, in training, wears a shoe which will weigh 

 about forty ounces to the set. His plates, in which he runs his races, 

 will weigh less than one-quarter of that, and the difference in his 

 speed will be from two to four seconds to the mile in favor of the 

 lightest. In as muscular and powerful an animal as the horse, it 

 cannot be the few ounces of weight which effects so much, but the 

 action, or method of running, must be favorably influenced by the 

 weai'ing of the plate. If this result follows in the fast, flying gallop 

 or run, why should not the fast trot — certainly a more artificial man- 

 ner of progression — be as susceptible of the changes in shoeing? 

 •Before considering the efiect of shoeing on the action, it may be as 

 well to investigate the foot itself, and judging from the conformation 

 of the parts, endeavor to find out if any of the present methods are 

 rational. First, there is the wall of solid horn, compact, tenacious 

 and altogether admirable for the natural purpose of supporting the 

 animal, and withstanding the wear consequent upon the friction of 

 travel. The sole, not so hard as the wall, but of different growth, 

 with a natural provision for the surplus to drop out in flakes. The 

 frog, still softer than the ^ole, and highly elastic. The wall is sus- 

 ceptible of dilatation and contraction, while the form of the sole 

 and wall, aided by the commissures, is such as to permit it without 

 injur-y. The bars are a sort of composite between these two, and in 

 the sound foot there is quite a space between the frog and the jjos- 

 terior portion of the bars. The bars are a partial continuation of 

 the wall to where they connect at the apex, immediately in front of 

 the point of the frog. The commissures, or channels, between the 

 bars and frog, are deep and angular depressions. In the natural foot 

 there is a very slight cleft in the frog, while in the contracted, or 



