CHAPTER IV. 



Cure op a Sprung Tendon — Results of Experiments — Etc. 



The horses which have most of their work on the tracks, wearing the 

 tips, woukl not prove the fitness of them for road use, and in order to 

 test them on as unfavorable ground, and imder as untoward circum- 

 stances, I tried them on three three-year-old trotting colts, and the same 

 thoroughbred spoken of previously. The latter Avas the most effectual 

 subject for experiment, as he was driven long trips, and his action 

 naturally was so low and sliding that he soon wore an ordiuaiy shoe 

 completely out. In coming from Chicago the horses were only ttiken 

 off at Omaha, and never left the car until they arrived at Oakland, 

 those who had them in charge not following my instructions to make 

 the stops between. There were eleven horses in the car, and the long 

 journey, and being continually on his feet, caused this colt to go over 

 on his knees. He was a sickly colt, and the summer before, the large 

 green-head fly, which is such a pest in the neighborhood of Chicago, 

 very nearly killed him. Though two years old at the time I brought 

 liim to California, he had the appearance of a yearling, and this 

 physical weakness doubtless was the cause of the trouble, as the 

 other horses showed little of the ill-effects of the long journey. 

 While he wore shoes this difliculty appeared to be increased, and he 

 had the appearance of some old stage-horse which had been sent 

 along for years over the hard roads. Shortly after the use of tips on 

 his fore feet his knees began to straighten, and now they ax-e only a 

 trifle out of the perpendicular. During the summer of 1876 I sent 

 him to Sacramento, where another of my horses was in ti:aining, and 



