40 • TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



after woi'king a short time he went hiiiie. I gave up all thought of 

 i-unning him in the four-mile race, but when it was. postponed from 

 Christmas and New Year's until the 22d of February, and then hav- 

 ing adopted the tips, I concluded to try them on him. His ankle 

 was very much enlarged from the injury to the splent bone, the 

 lower point of which could be felt between the middle and back ten- 

 don. In this training his lameness never appeai-ed, and though 

 worked very hard, he started in the race in fine condition. I am 

 not alone in the opinion that if he had been faii-ly dealt with he 

 would have won the race. He exhibited scarcely any distress after 

 the first heat, and was only three seconds behind the winner. After 

 that, when galloping on the road during a protracted rain, he struck 

 a stone and wrenched his ankle, which made a permanent enlarge- 

 ment of the joint. To test the tips in a case of this kind, he was 

 again put in training, and up to this date is doing well. Since wear- 

 ing the tips there has been nothing like a quarter crack, and I am 

 well satisfied that it is impossible to spring one of these troublesome 

 afiairs when the tip is worn; and, furthermore, I have never yet had 

 a race-horse which "broke down" or had a "bowed" tendon unless 

 there was something wrong in the feet. 



