XXXVIII. CONCUSSION.
Horses with high knee action hit the ground the hardest. The more weight a horse carries in his shoes or toe weights, the more concussion he receives. The concussion on the hind feet and legs does not seem to pain or sting anything like what he has to endure in the front feet and legs when striking the ground fast and hard, especially when he is going over a hard piece of ground. If his front feet are out of proportion, high heels and long toes, dry and hard, he will feel the concussion severely and this will make many horses unsteady, breaking and acting bad. A horse with lofty forward action should be trained in a natural low quarter and low heeled foot, with a bar shoe as light as possible, with frog pressure.
The most dangerous and uncomfortable kind of a foot for a horse that hits the ground hard to have is one with the heels abnormally high. The higher the heels the greater the concussion. The lower the heels the less the concussion. The more weight the more concussion. The less weight the less concussion. A foot that is kept at the proper angle, as near to a natural foot as possible, and kept soft, will prevent the stinging and painful sensation that is caused by concussion. With feet kept like this the horse will not flinch or shorten up in his stride when he strikes hard places in the track. The light thin heel calks that are used on shoes do not break much of the concussion when horses are going fast. Why? because when the legs are extended at speed the shoes land on the ground back on the heel, with the toe of the foot elevated away from the ground, and with some horses more than with others. They do not strike the ground flat-footed like the most of them do when going slow. Thin hard pads are very good under light shoes, but thick pads that will allow the walls of a horse’s foot at heels to sink or cut through them at the heels are no good. They will create a hard lump at the seat of corns between the bar and wall at the heels, and hold dirt that is liable to create unpleasant feelings to a sensitive horse that goes in middling low heels. When heels of the front feet are allowed to become too high on horses taking fast work or racing, a very severe strain is thrown on the ligament or tendon that holds the navicular bone in its socket. When the leg is extended at speed the extra high heels cause the foot to land too far ahead of the leg while the toe is elevated on landing, so that it creates an extra amount of work for the ligament to hold it in its proper position at the time of impact with the ground.