X. A BAD SHIN, KNEE AND ARM HITTER, TROTTER.
A chronic shin, knee and arm hitter was a horse called Rustler, owned at Richmond, Va. In the early part of the summer that he raced so well, he was working miles around 2:41 and 2:42 but very unsteady, breaking continually. He would begin by hitting his shins, as speed was increased he would hit his knees and arms so hard that he would not stay on the trot. He was brought to me to shoe by his colored groom, who also brought his boots, as I had never seen the horse in action, but after seeing the boots he wore, I saw at a glance he needed as far as gaiting or balancing was concerned, to be regenerated. He was a large horse, and his feet had not grown much from the last shoeing so as I could change them to my liking. I was informed that he went best in light shoes, but the owner told me to use my own judgment, so I did. I made a pair of sideweight shoes, 18 ounces with toe and heel calks, the heavy side of shoes on the inside of each front foot, the outside of each front shoe as light as possible. After leveling his hind feet, a light shoe with heel calks was put on. The owner, Mr. C. J. Smith of Richmond, Va., came to the shop and looked at the front shoes and did not like the job, as to the weight and the calks, thinking if he did not knock a leg off, he would cut boots and legs to smithereens. I told him I would change them if he thought it best, but before I got ready to take them off he said leave them on and I will try them and see what he will do with them. The groom drove him out to the track, and Mr. Smith, being present, ordered the groom to drive him a slow mile as the trainer was not there; he worked the second mile so easy that he was worked another easy mile in 2:21, the last quarter well within himself in 33 seconds without a break, over the same half-mile track on which he could not beat 2:41 previous to this shoeing. They said when he got on his stride there was nothing the matter with him. I had not heard from the horse for nearly a week when one day as the owner was driving by I hailed him asking how was Rustler, he said “he is all right, there isn’t a thing the matter with him.” He went to the races, started in at Baltimore, Maryland, and after winning seven or eight consecutive races, finished at Readville a close second in 2:12. Most of his races were won in the same front shoes it took to balance him, and yet some writers will say you cannot get immediate results.