HAMPERING THE GROWTH, 67 



recommended by you, every winter, for, if for no other reason, it 

 leaves the foot in such splendid condition to go through the summer 

 with. I have not seen that any one else has made any report to you 

 concerning this matter, and have simply mentioned my experience in 

 order that you may take it for what it is worth. 



Alfred W. Taliaferro. 



The subject is so important that, in my estimation, it overshadows 

 any other part of stable economy, or any one jjhase in the manage- 

 ment of horses, especially young colts. I am fully satisfied that the 

 only draAvback to the training of yearling trotters is the fancied 

 necessity of shoes. When thoroughbreds are galloped at that age, 

 they ax'e left unshod, and hence there is no injury, but the impression 

 being so general that the weight on the fore feet is an imperative 

 necessity with the young trotter, shoes are woi-n. Until that is re- 

 moved there will be serious injuries following the use of the full shoe. 

 At this pei'iod of life the foot grows more rapidly than at any other 

 age. Hampering that growth is sure to be followed by a structural 

 change, which can scarcely be remedied in after life. Only a few 

 days ago I saw a number of yearlings which had been shod for 

 months, and two-yeai'-olds which had worn shoes for a year or more. 

 A glance disclosed that the feet were not in normal condition, every 

 one having more or less of a cramped look. Few are aware of the 

 " spring " there is to the foot of a hox-se which has never been shod, 

 compared with the rigid box of the animal that has worn shoes. The 

 instrument, which I used for a time to prepare the foot for the tips, 

 discloses this. It is clamped on the foot, a small lever giving the 

 pressure, and though the power is only suflScient to hold it in place, 

 the elasticity is obvious. Applied to the shod foot there is none of 

 this yielding, and a notch or two in the ratchet, which holds the lever, 

 is all that it can be moved, whei-eas it passes over quite a space in the 

 other. The reference so often to X X is compulsory, inasmuch as 

 the experiments in the last two years have been mainly confined to 

 him. His foot measui-es a little oyer five inches transversely, the 

 length five inches. This is the natural— or nearly so — proportions 

 of the foot, though in a horse which has never worn shoes, the trans- 



