50 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS, 



alone for time to remedy, the cure would be equally as effectual. 

 The hard roads are blamed for the quackery of the groom and 

 the blacksmith, and when the feet and legs are injured beyond recov- 

 ery, the injury is ascribed to anything but the tme source. I am 

 satisfied that the danger of hard roads to the feet and legs of the 

 harness-hoi'se has been gi'eatly magnified, and the gi-eat propoi'tion 

 of the injuries which are claimed to be the result of fast driving over 

 ordinarily hai'd surfaces, are directly traceable to other causes. In 

 this paper I intended to consider the eflect of tips and shoes on the 

 action, but, perhaps, it may be as well to devote the rest of the chap- 

 ter to the elucidation of that portion of the subject, which is so 

 important in road-driving. Hard roads are the rule in the neighbor- 

 hood of cities, as even moderately-soft highways would soon be cut 

 up by the numerous vehicles which are driven over them. Deep, 

 heavy roads are more likely to injure the trotter than those with a 

 smooth, hard sui-face, provided the feet have their natural functions 

 preseiwed, and a continued " speeding" over such gi'ound will result 

 in making the animal slower, if it does not irretrievably injui*e the 

 legs. A " dixi; road," with loose soil enough to fill the concavity of 

 the foot, is i-ecognized to be the best of all for hoi-ses to be driven 

 fast upon; but such ai'e rai'ely found, and, consequently, the drivmg 

 has to be done over the common macadamized highway, and, in the 

 vicinity of San Fi-ancisco, this is covered with broken red trap rock. 

 This, when kept in condition, forms a smooth surface, and when wet 

 gives a firm hold for the foot, though it wears the shoe rapidly. The 

 foundation of broken stone and this covering make a roadway which 

 is nearly as soUd as the Belgian pavement, the difference being that 

 the top covering afibrds a safer rest for the foot, -with less liability 

 to slip. During the dry season in California, the soil, unless sandy, 

 becomes as hard as the rock road, and some of the black adobe land 

 is fully as unyielding, drying to the hardness of a hard-burnt brick 

 for several feet below the surface. Unless covei-ed with ch'ied gi-asses, 

 there is nothing to break the jar, and more trying gi-ound to the feet 

 it would be difiicult to find. Notwithstanding this, the vaquero 

 gallops his barefooted horse at a furious rate over it, and goes down 

 declivities at full speed where the English fox-hunter would consider 



