300 
T. S. VERY. 
horses; one of the steadiest, pnrest-gaited and most pleasant 
drivers possible. He could strike a 2:30 gait, in going a hundred 
yards, from a walk, and could be relied on not to break or act 
foolishly under any circumstances. He never interfered or cut, 
or hit his legs anywhere or at any time. He had been a little 
lame at times, and finally became incurable by ordinary means. 
Consulting two of my friends about it, it was thought best to op¬ 
erate upon him. One of these gentlemen kindly performed the 
operation, which terminated in a favorable way so far as imme¬ 
diate results were concerned, and he was put to work and went 
sound. But from that time he could never go a three-minute 
gait. When urged to go fast he would “ hitch ” and break, the 
hind shoes would clatter against the front ones; he would amble 
and pace, and go all sorts of ways rather than trot. He was 
willing to try, but the effort was futile. Now I had had quite an 
experience with “ trotters,” and had owned and driven a good 
many (but have now outgrown the fever), so I could generally 
find out where and how and why they hit their legs and broke or 
acted badly. I owned more than a bushel of boots, toe-weights, 
rollers, check-reins, bits, etc., and knew much about shoeing to 
balance the action and overcome defects in gait; but all the 
traps, and all the knowledge and ingenuity I possessed availed 
nothing in this case. His value as a “trotter” had disappeared. 
Accordingly I resolved not to try to trot him, and while he lived 
used him only for slow road-work, which he did acceptably. 
Another case which came under my observation and handling 
was that of a mare that could trot half-miles in 1:10 almost any 
day. I had seen her do this a number of times, and go as steadily 
without boots or weights as could be desired. She became lame, 
and after various attempts to cure the lameness she was purchased 
by a friend of mine, who had her neurotomized, and subsequently 
lent her to me to drive double with a horse that I owned. I 
found that she acted almost precisely like the horse previously 
referred to; that she could not go at anything like her former 
rate of speed without overreaching and hitting her legs in some 
way that frightened her and made her act badly. I tried all my 
paraphernalia of boots, toe-weights and straps on her, but it was 
