XXVI MENTAL INFLUENCES. 



more to be feared than the advantages justified. These have been 

 overcome by a better imderstanding, and the knowledge which years 

 of experience have brought has reduced the casualties to a minimum. 

 In all probability, there are many instances where the use of weights 

 has saved the animal which wore them, by doing away with the 

 necessity of harsher methods, and by lessening the strain which 

 would follow harder woi'k. 



I shall take the ground that the good results which follow the 

 use of toe- weights are dependent, first, on mental influences ; sec- 

 ondly, on mechanical effects. The former I hold to as by far the 

 most potential of the two, and the grand secret of the success which 

 has resulted from their judicious application. It may be better, per- 

 haps, to state that, the effect of toe-weights is to fix a different 

 habit of action in the mind, the intelligence of the pupil being 

 called into requisition, and this is supplemented by mechanical laws 

 which aid in the development. I am aware that this position will 

 be thought untenable by nearly every one who has studied the sub- 

 ject, though I feel the utmost confidence in the correctness of the 

 statement, and will present the ai"guments with a degree of positive- 

 ness which has arisen from long study and careful examinations. 

 I was forced to this conclusion from absolute necessity. That there 

 was some particular configuration which required weight on the feet 

 to counteract the wrong formation, was the first idea which came to 

 my mind, and from the pacing gait being so susceptible of a change 

 to the fast trot, there was some foundation to commence upon. 

 From many pacers having a form which differed from that which 

 is usually seen in good horses, we are prone to associate these pecu- 

 liarities with the pacing gait. A sloping quarter, the stifles placed 

 low, a good deal of bend in the hock, and with high withers, narrow 

 chest, and fore-legs close together, is called the pacing form. But 

 the very fastest pacers I have seen were of a different pattern. 

 Longfellow, Jim Brown, Nimrod and Hiram Tracy are straighter in 

 the quarters than a majority of trotters, and though Defiance, Lady 

 St. Clair and Ben Butler have a good deal of angle in the innomi- 

 natuni, it is not enough to attract particular notice. Those were 

 all fast pacers, and Defiance has the fastest record at both gaits, 

 having paced in 2:17f and trotted in 2:24. 



