28 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



weigbt behind. A slot is filed in the metal, through which the strap 

 is di'awn, and the hook of the " Eureka " toe- weight, at thfe toe, 

 makes a firm junction. This will be fully considered when I write 

 of the uses and eff"ects of these lately-invented trotting appendages. 

 Figures 2 and 3 represent a peculiar tip, and while one of the shape 

 of figure 1 with the toe- weight attachment will be found, in a great 

 majority of instances, all that is required for trotting colts and older 

 horses, many young animals will be much benefited by wearing such 

 as these cuts represent. Very frequently colts of great promise to 

 make fast trotters have so little knee-action that they point and dwell 

 in their stride, and after months, or perhaps years, of careful educa- 

 tion, still retain so much of this faulty action as to greatly interfere 

 with an increase of speed. Rattles, strings of small bells, weights, 

 and all the appliances, fail to remedy the defect, and after patient en- 

 deavor the trainer is forced to give them up. Road-driving some- 

 times overcomes the defect, but in a majority of instances the liabit 

 becomes fixed, and if the animal is strongly urged is very liable to 

 get to hitching, single-footing or shuffling along in the attempt to go 

 faster than his gait will permit. Horses of this kind of action are 

 very liable to cut themselves on the coronet, or bring the hind foot 

 in contact with the shoe on the fore foot. This comes from the dwell- 

 ing habit, the front foot not being picked up fast enough, the hind 

 foot catching it before it is raised. 



Figure 2 represents the ground surface of the tip, with the beveled 

 toe, and extra posterior projection to give weight. The beveled toe is 

 to quicken the stroke, the weight to induce higher action. Several 

 years ago, when living in Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi rivei-, 

 Mr. Robert Bonner sent me a pattern of the "rolling-motion shoe," 

 with calkinQ;s so that it could be used on the ice. There were four 

 calks on the shoe, those in front being set back fully as far as the 

 transverse bar shown in the cut. It astonished me with the effect it 

 had in quickening the motion of* the front feet. On the hard, icy 

 surface this effect would be more marked than on the softer track or 

 road. With an ordinary shoe, horses will " pick up quicker " on the 

 ice, and with this the effect was to subject the driver to a perfect 

 shower of small pieces of ice, thrown with a velocity which made the 



