EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 121 



if he is a natural gaited trotter or pacer. Do not use a shoe 

 weighing over five or six ounces on a yearling or two-year-old. 

 With this manner of shoeing you do not unbalance your colt. 

 The shoes are simply to protect the wail of the foot and leaves 

 his gait. natural, until he gets used to wearing shoes. Then 

 you can experiment with stickfast weights after he has ac- 

 quired muscle and strength to learn what change is needed, if 

 any, to regulate his gait, Many times no change is neces- 

 sary and if there Is any made it will be' a detriment instead of 

 an improvement. 



Leave the colt's gait natural for a short time, and if he 

 does not improve in speed and you are satisfied that nature 

 wants assistance and he requires more weight in front, add the 

 weight either by toe-weights or in the shoe. Two or three 

 ounces on each front foot is sufficient at first unless your colt 

 is rough and bad gaited and inclined to pace and you want 

 him to trot. In such cases, many times, you will have to use 

 double that arnount of weight. 



If your colt is carrying heavy weight be sure and not 

 speed him but a short distance at a time, as it will soon tire 

 and spoil him. 



A colt or a horse will carry more weight in the shoe alone 

 than divided between the shoe and a toe-weight, and carry it 

 further, faster and easier without injury to the animal. More 

 good horses are spoiled by the use of toe-weights than any 

 one thing, and still we have to use them, and the man that 

 knows when they are necessary and when not is the man that 

 has success. 



The experience I had with Lilly Langtry, 2:23|^, will illus- 

 trate my theory of equal weight shoes. She could show great 

 natural speed in the field or to the halter barefooted — in a 

 state of nature. I broke her in the winter, there was snow 

 on the ground and the roads were soft. I drove her for some 

 time without shoes ; she was good gaited and showed plenty 

 of speed, but when the roads began to get icy and hard I was ' 

 compelled to get her shod, I sent her to the shop with orders 



