50 EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 



member that it is sometimes dangerous in the human family 

 also to check a diarrhea too soon, as it causes a worse and 

 sometimes' fatal sickness. The fact is, keep as near nature as 

 possible under all circumstances and you will succeed if suc- 

 cess is possible. 



Many times great mistakes are made in booting a horse, 

 as horses of different gaits want different boots. Some horses 

 want a close fitting quarter boot that buckles snugly around the 

 foot, for instance, the Voltair boot, which fits the quarter snug 

 and buckles in front with four or five straps. Others might 

 like the Cynthana, the upper part of which has an attachment 

 which moves a little on the foot, which just suits the animal. 

 Others might like the old-fashioned bell or tunnel boot, as it 

 is called; it moves up and down, or turns around on the foot. 

 Many such a little thing has a tendency to help a horse's gait 

 more than a man could driving him a dozen times; Many 

 times they will go betterwithout a quarter boot, but they will 

 hit and clip their boots so much that we are afraid to drive 

 them without any on, when the fact is the horse don't need 

 them, and he is trying to get them off, and when you once 

 leave them off he is all right, goes straight and clean. This 

 applies to all kinds and manner of using boots on a horse. 



I have had horses who would not go a bit with scalpers 

 on, made of leather ; you take the same shaped boot made of 

 heavy Kersey cloth and they would go all right. They seemed 

 to need the protection, but when they hit'against the leather 

 boot it would seem to frighten them, and they would hitch 

 and break, and act worse many times than they would without 

 any protection. I have had the same experience with shin, 

 knee and elbow boots — in fact I favor the Kersey boot in 

 many cases to leather for the above reason. In case of a 

 horse having great knee action and hitting his elbows, a boot 

 which is often used is an elbow boot. This hitting is usually 

 caused by having too much weight on his front foot or his toe 

 too short, it allows him to fold his knee too much. If his foot 

 is allowed to grow out, giving a good length of toe, he could 



