24 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



I began witli the shoe first described, viz : two plates of cast 

 brass or co])per, with a stratum of rubber between. In the Fall of 

 187.5 I commenced the use of tips, driving him frequently on the 

 road. The first vised were cast something of the form shown in the cut 

 in the next chapter, but without the depression for the introduction 

 of the rubber between the sole and the metal. The tip extended 

 back a short distance behind the point of the frog, and the foot was 

 prepared by cutting the horn down where the tip came, until the 

 ground surface of that and the horn at the heel was on the same level. 

 It being slightly wedge-shaped, most of the horn was cut away fi'om 

 the toe, where it could be cut down more safely than at the posterior 

 portion of the tip. Shod in this way there was not as much wear 

 at the heel as the natural growth, while the toe of the tip would 

 soon be worn to a feather-edge. All winter he was thus driven, 

 doing all the "running around," to town, and generally on Sundays 

 long drives on the gravelled roads. This was varied by an occasional 

 brush on the ti'ack when the race-horses in training needed company, 

 and several times he was taken across the bay and driven over the 

 cobble-stones, Belgian pavement, red-rock roads of the Park, and 

 the Clifi" House road to the Bay District Course. As a further 

 experiment, I nailed tips cut from a slab of copper three-sixteenths 

 of an inch thick, and covering the whole of the foot from a short 

 distance back of the frog, there being a small, triangular space for 

 the apex of the frog to come through. He could not trot as fast 

 in this as the heavier tip, but could run faster. The copper sunk 

 down in the middle nntil it touched the sole, but as it was quite 

 concave, there did not appear to be any ill effects following, as the 

 main pressvire was thrown iipon the edges. Like the others, the 

 wear came upon the front portion, and it remained upon the feet 

 until that part and the horn at the toe were worn to quite an acute 

 angle. Some writers who have treated of the subject of shoeing, 

 have recommended the new shoe being formed in this manner, claim- 

 ing that the wear was due to the horse dragging his toe along the 

 ground, and that rounding the shoe to the shape of the one that had 

 been worn, enabled the horse to travel more easily, and did away 

 with the tendency to stumble. The worn tip made from the tough 



