Balancing and Shoeing Trotting and Pacing Horses

by William J. Moore

Is a very dangerous fault and is from a weakness that can be helped a lot. The front feet of a stumbler should be kept as short as possible at the toe. Elevate the heels as much as would be comfortable to the leg and horse. A stumbler should be made to carry some weight in his front shoes because the weight increases knee action, and this is what you want in a stumbler. Shoe with a toeweight shoe thick at the heels, for height, and roll the toes of the shoes as much as possible, a bevel toed shoe is also good, keep the heels middling high, and the toes cut down low and shortened up. These shoes are not very good for fast work, as they will slip back too much on leaving the ground, which retards speed but will help to make speed in lots of slow ones that require action.

XXIV. SPEEDY CUTTING.

A horse that is taking his work and is “speed cutting” and still continues to be a good actor must be game. Speed cutting begins at the coronet or a little higher up and continues up the pastern mostly on the inside of leg to the top of ankle and even above that. There are three things that cause this, the most prominent one to look for, is the inside of the hind feet are a lot higher than the outside; seven times out of ten the outside of front feet will be found longer or higher than the inside. The horse may or may not be carrying the proper weight. If he is pulling a part of a ton on the bit to hold him together, he is not properly balanced with weight. The hitting is mostly done with the outside toe of the front shoe. If you can find some one who can level and balance these feet on the legs there will be a big change in the action.

Excessive front, and not enough of hind, action will cause speed cutting. Excessive hock and stifle action and not enough action in front will also cause it. When the action is excessive, decrease it by lowering the quarters and heels and by shoeing very light, if the action of the other end needs to be increased, shorten the toes and add weight, do not be afraid, four to five ounces will be better to experiment with than one or two. After the horse gains confidence he may not need any extra weight. The most important thing will be to find some one who can fix the feet, and the feet will be found as I have stated above. There are very few who are good judges of a balanced foot. It takes an expert to detect the high and low side of a foot. Horses that wing into their knees and those that paddle away from their knees, and line trotters, contract this fault because of an improperly prepared foot to control the faulty line of action and at times not carrying the proper amount of weight front and hind to balance the action so that the hind action will work in harmony with the front.

If the horse wings in toward his knees with one or both front feet fix the front feet according to the directions in this book in the chapter on winging in or knee hitting. If the horse paddles out away from his knees, I refer you to the chapter on Paddling to prepare his feet by, and use the shoes therein prescribed. If the front action is excessive and lofty you must lower the quarters and heels to give him a longer leverage to leave the ground from, and shoe with a light shoe, and balance him with a toe weight for extension, and have the feet the same length and angle.

To prepare the feet on a speedy cutter, rasp down or lower the inside of foot from centre of toe back to inside heel to a level or a fraction lower than the outside of the foot, have the toes of both feet the same length, and at the angle he shows the most speed with. Shoe with a sideweight shoe, the heavy side of shoe on the outside of foot and calked to prevent slipping.

To shorten the hind stride use a light shoe, raise the heels and shorten the toes of the hind feet as much as they will stand. To lengthen the stride of the hind feet, lower the quarters and heels to a longer angle to leave the ground from, and add several ounces more weight than the horse has been carrying to each shoe; the inside edges of hind shoes from the toe back to quarters should be beveled off. The edges of front shoes should be beveled off on both outside and inside.

XXV. A BAD SPEEDY CUTTER.

The late Freeman M. Dodge of Pittsfield, Mass., trainer and driver, had a bay mare by the name of “Tillie Wilkes” that was speedy cutting so bad that he was not able to work her, and he came to me to find out if I could stop her from speedy cutting. I told him I could not tell until I saw her driven. He brought her over and drove her down the stretch at a three minute gait. This mare had a sore spot on the lower inside of one hind ankle that was raw, the size of a silver dollar and when she began touching this spot, speedy cutting, she would jump and begin running. After seeing this mare driven I found she had excessive action in front and very lofty, and her hind action mostly all stifle action and very little hock action and her feet were in bad shape. She was driven over the next day to be shod and I had her shoes ready when she arrived. I fixed this mare’s front feet by lowering her quarters and heels as much as nature would allow me, and left all the toe possible. This gave her a longer leverage to leave the ground from, which kept her from breaking over so quick, and it reduced her lofty knee action and created more extension. I took off a twelve-ounce shoe from each of her front feet, and applied a four-ounce aluminum shoe.

Fixing her hind feet and shoeing them was the most important. I shortened the toes and lowered the inside of each hind foot until the inside of them was as low as the outside or a shade lower if anything. I fitted a pair of heavy sideweight shoes, the heavy side of the shoes on the outside of the hind feet, each hind shoe weighed about eleven ounces with heel calks. This job stopped all the speedy cutting and she trotted quarters in 31 seconds shortly after, and was sold to Mr. Shults for $750.00.