Balancing and Shoeing Trotting and Pacing Horses

THE ART OF SHOEING HORSES.

There is something in the foot of the horse that has been a mystery to many who have been unable to find out the secrets by reading some of the books that have been printed on the different subjects, and experimenting on the same, pertaining to a perfect balance of the trotter and pacer when in action.

I have shod all kinds of horses and have come in contact with all kinds of feet, and with the results gotten by practical experiments, I will try to enlighten my readers and the lovers of the light-harness horse.

I. FOALS.

The feet of the suckling foal should be properly fixed every four or five weeks. After the foal is eight or nine weeks old his feet need fixing regularly. To fix the feet on the young foal shorten the toes as much as the foot will stand without making the foot tender, and then rasp the quarters down to a level with the frog, or a little lower than the top of the frog will be better, then round the sharp edges of foot off so as the foal will not cut his legs with the sharp edges and the job is completed. Do not cut out the bars, or the sole, or the frog. Now if you have noticed that a foal stands toeing out, leave the inside of the toe of that foot a little the longest from the coronet, an eighth or three-sixteenths of an inch will be a benefit to the foot, also to the line of action later on, and if the foal toes in, leave the outside of the toe the longest, as it will help to straighten matters in the line of action.

In fixing the foal’s feet it is very good to rasp the quarters and heels low enough so as to give a slight frog pressure when the foot comes in contact with the ground. Frog pressure assists expansion and prevents contraction; a short natural foot with a slight frog pressure during the first and second year is one of the surest ways to prevent a bad gait or a ruptured tendon, in later years. Young foals should have their feet picked out two or three times a week to ventilate around the frog, because the filth that usually gets lodged around there will be almost sure to cause heat, and in consequence a diseased frog, which perishes away and allows the heels to contract. A contracted foot is a very bad thing and causes trouble in more ways than one. If the feet on foals are left to grow too long, the inside heels will cave in or become contracted from the position they rest on them while grazing. To prevent this keep them cut down, if not you will have to use hoof expanders to get the foot back to its natural position.

One of the most important factors in keeping the feet on sucklings, weanlings and yearlings in proper condition as is specified in this article is to see that you are keeping the leg in the middle of the foot, otherwise many a good horse suffers, as the concussion and strain is not equally distributed on both sides of the foot when in action. If the feet on sucklings, weanlings, yearlings and two-year-olds are kept properly fixed, quarters and heels kept low enough so as to receive a slight frog pressure, this means at the proper angle, you will not have any elbow hitters and very few knee-knockers. If you have a yearling that hits his knees you have not kept his legs in the middle of his feet by keeping his heels and quarters rasped down, which will make it easier to prevent winging into his knees than if he had a contracted inside quarter, which is the case when neglected.

II. PREPARING THE FOOT FOR THE SHOE.

To fix feet is the most important part of shoeing the horse. In fixing the foot, the first thing to take into consideration is, what sort of work are you fixing the foot for, is it for a draft horse, a road horse, or a trotter or a pacer? Does the horse wing, paddle, speedy-cut or cross-fire, does he hit his ankles, shins, knees, arms, hocks, or elbows? Is his action too high or too low? Is he too long or too short gaited? Is he striding longer with one leg than another?

If you go to work and cut the feet down without taking some of these faulty things into consideration you are liable to get his feet just to the reverse way to what they should be, and place him in an uncomfortable position instead of a comfortable one. In preparing the bottom of a horse’s foot you must bear in mind that the foot can be fixed to straighten out different kinds of faulty action, and if you have not learned it by a close study of experimenting or by being taught by some one that knew all the different ways of balancing a foot on the leg to correct faulty action, then to learn this you will have to have it explained to you and you should see the job executed, see it done, and then go and see the results obtained, while the horse is in action. Then you will know that something is accomplished by scientifically fixing the feet to correct faulty action; you have to show people nowadays.

Why I say that fixing the feet is the most important part of shoeing, and the most difficult to get done, is because the farriers that can level and balance feet of rough gaited trotters and pacers to assist nature in correcting faulty action are very scarce, some of them cannot think long enough while cutting with the rasp and knife, and the first thing you know they have cut one side of the foot too low and are not able to cut the opposite side on a level to the side that was cut wrong.

Now to fix the feet of a horse whether front or hind, begin with the foot first that looks to be the highest at the heels, because if you should start to fix two feet and one foot is a good deal lower at the heels than the other you cannot cut the heels of the foot that are the highest low enough to place the foot at the same angle with its mate, if you had fixed the foot that had the lowest heels first.

A good rule in fixing feet, and you will find it true nine times out of ten, is, when fixing front feet, always cut the outside from toe to heel down first, unless you are shoeing a paddler, then cut the inside of the foot down to a level to correspond with the outside that was fixed first. The reason for fixing feet in this manner, is, if you should cut the inside down first chances are you would not be able to cut the outside to a level with the inside, for you will cut to the sensitive part, on the outside of a front foot, quicker than the inside, and it is just to the reverse with hind feet. The front feet should not be left high on the outside, unless the horse is a paddling gaited one, for it creates friction, or a strain on landing and leaving the ground, it also helps to create faulty action. Nearly all the hard shin, knee and arm hitters I have come in contact with, their front feet were highest on the outside, low on inside, or a contracted inside quarter, and sometimes a very badly contracted inside quarter at that. To fix front feet of trotters and pacers for different purposes or ways of going you can refer to the index on the different subjects in this book.

There is very little attention paid to the hind feet. They try to get them the same length and angle, but there are very few hind feet properly fixed to control a perfect line of action, to lengthen or shorten the stride, to close or widen the action or to elevate or lower the action. There are very few floormen that can level and balance a hind foot. In preparing it for a shoe to correct faulty action, the majority of them do not know how to hold the leg to look at the bottom of the foot to tell which side is highest. They should keep in mind while fixing the foot, the results they are trying to get; if they do not, they are liable to get the foot too low on one side or the other. A hind foot that is left the highest on the inside is a dangerous weapon to a trotter or pacer; it will cause injury to ankle ligaments and to bones of the foot. In the majority of cases the angle of a hind foot should be several degrees shorter than the angle of the front feet. A hind foot that is left the highest on the inside on a trotter or pacer will have a tendency to close up the line of action of the hind leg and create cross-firing and shin, hock, ankle and pastern hitting. As the coffin or pedal bone of a horse’s foot is symmetrical in shape, it is not proper to have wings of abnormal growth more on one side of the foot than on the other, for this constitutes an unbalanced foot. If it measures more on one side of the foot than on the other, from the center of the frog, make both sides alike, to balance up matters and to conform with the shape of the coffin bone inside; if the toe of one foot is longer than that of the other it creates a longer leverage to leave the ground from, therefore the stride of that leg would naturally be a little longer, everything else being equal. If the heels of one foot are left higher than those of its mate, the stride would be a little shorter and the jar or concussion greater. A good rule in fixing hind feet is, always cut or rasp the inside of foot down first, because you can always get the outside of a hind foot cut down to the level of the inside. A foot should be fixed so that the leg will be kept in the middle of the foot. If the foot has a contracted quarter, one side or the other, you cannot do it until the contracted quarter is expanded, which is easily done (see article on contracted feet). It is difficult to fix feet to suit the leg, and line of action, and also some people’s eye, all at the same time. The frog of the horse’s foot should never be cut, if it is in a healthy state. A diseased frog that has loose fragments hanging to it may be trimmed off so as not to be holding filth. Never cut the heels open with a knife or rasp to make the foot look wider across the heels, a practice that has long existed with some people. It is unnatural, it helps to contract the heels, and shortens the bearing surface from toe to heel. Any one that does this is dangerous. Trimming out the frog, opening the heels with the knife, cutting out the bars, and too much of the sole, will give you a hoofbound and contracted sore-footed horse, it will help to shorten up his gait and sometimes make him rough gaited. Feet of this kind cannot stand the jar or concussion that feet can that have been properly treated.

III. A TROTTER INCLINED TO SINGLEFOOT AND PACE.

The first thing to do is to change the angle of his front feet to a longer one by rasping the quarters and heels down several degrees, do not take anything off the toes. The hind feet should be in length and angle nearly the same as the front feet, perhaps an eighth of an inch shorter at the toe, and within 3 degrees of the same angle. The second thing is to add about 3 or 4 ounces more weight to the front shoes, and a little more if needed, after you have tried the former. If the horse carries a toe weight put it on also. The third thing to do is to put calks on the hind shoes, toe and heel, using as light a shoe as possible. The fourth thing to do is to allow the animal to go as low headed as possible, this is very important. The changes in the footing of different tracks will sometimes cause a horse to become all unbalanced. Slipping is very bad for a horse when at speed; it unbalances the action and creates muscle soreness, and the poor animal is made to suffer torture by some of the drivers or trainers, because the animal does not perform as well on a track that don’t suit the shoeing as he did on a previous occasion that did suit, the same way shod. I must say in reference to trotters that are inclined to singlefoot and pace that in fixing the hind feet I would prefer to get the angle of the hind feet as near to the angle of the front feet as possible, because it helps to confine them to the pure trot. The shorter the toe and angle of the hind feet as compared with the front, the quicker they will go into a singlefoot and pace. The causes of the roughness in the gait of the trotter are that the feet are at too short an angle, not carrying weight enough in front, and checked too high, or slipping too much.