78 TIPS AND TOE-WEIGHTS. 



to run at large, or is worked without shoes, there will be no change. 

 In a previous paper something of the same ground was covered, 

 though the long periods intervening, awaiting the result of experi- 

 ments, has compelled reiterations. This desultory method of treat- 

 ing the subject has not been without advantages. Every point has 

 been covered by practice, so far as it has been practicable to make 

 the test. The few horses which we have had in the last two years 

 has extended the application, and left things which might have been 

 proven, partly conjectural. To establish the theory that there is far 

 less risk of breaking down from the feet being unhampered, would 

 require more actual results than we now possess, and though firm in 

 the belief that such will be ultimately proven, there is not sufficient 

 data to state it authoritatively. 



As many of the Eastern trainers of race horses have discarded 

 shoes, a compaiison could be instituted there, and here there is one 

 instance. The horses in the Santa Anita stable have been trained 

 barefooted, and with the exception of Clara D., who had shoes put 

 on to make a long railroad trip, the only incumbrance has been the 

 racing plates. There were less casualties among them than in any 

 stable on the coast, and they certainly did their share of work. Mr. 

 Martin informs me that he is so well convinced that it is preferable 

 that he will continue the practice. Clara D. was shod without his 

 knowledge, and it is not likely such a course will be pursued again 

 after the way he emphasized his disapprobation. 



The Australians have forsaken shoes, and the late William Dow- 

 ling informed me that they had found it to be far prefei'able to the 

 old method. When in races they are plated in order to give them a 

 " hold " from which to spring, and as the courses there are coated 

 with grass, there may be a necessity for a catch. The tip, however, 

 would afford this just as effectually as the full plate, without the 

 danger of twisting from the heel. 



