Balancing and Shoeing Trotting and Pacing Horses

by William J. Moore

If your pacer begins to cross-fire lower the inside of hind feet but if you cannot lower the feet on the inside raise the outside with the thickness of the shoe, thick on outside and thin on inside. If you can lower the inside of hind feet low enough, a plain shoe will do with calks. The best shoe for a cross-firing pacer is a heavy sideweight shoe, thin and rounded off on the inside toe. You do not need any projections on this shoe, heel or toe, if the foot is properly prepared to widen action. If your colt gets to winging to his knees, lower the outside of front feet from centre of toes to heel on outside. If your colt begins to paddle with one front leg or the other, lower the inside of the foot or feet as much as they will stand, this will leave the outside toe the longest to leave the ground from, which, when at speed, will prevent a lot of paddling. The lighter the shoes on a paddler the better, but if he has to carry some weight in his shoes to balance action, put all the weight in the outside of his shoes. If you use a toeweight, attach it near to the outside toe for better results. Paddling is caused by the contraction of muscles on one side of the leg, the same as winging in, and not always by bad shoeing, the main thing is foot fixing.

Some say there is nothing under the sun perfect. Foals developing in the womb of their dam sometimes will be in a cramped position, which contracts those muscles or ligaments that cause winging in or paddling out. As some of the yearlings and weanlings show this faulty line of action before ever being shod. I have seen yearlings that were knee-knockers to begin with and you would think confirmed ones and after one, two or three shoeings you could not hear them knock their boots on the turns, and they would later develop into fast trotters and win races or take fast records at two and three years old.

At the Allen Farm, where I have been located for a great many years, I have seen results obtained by foot fixing and shoeing that satisfied me that there were secrets hidden from most of the public in the art or science of foot fixing and balancing faulty action, and from my experience and the results obtained, I felt that the public was entitled to my knowledge so gained. I have seen yearlings step eighths of a mile from 15¾ to 17 and 18 seconds, and many of them. I have seen a yearling step the last sixteenth of an eighth in seven seconds, a 1:52 gait, on this half-mile track which should go a second faster on a mile track.

Now if the foot fixing and shoeing that I have explained in this book and have been practising for years is not the nearest approach to the proper and correct way of balancing the action of the trotter and pacer, why has Bingara become the champion fourteen-year-old sire of 2:30 performers, located as he is in this cold climate and far away from the section where are the greatest number of producing dams? Mares by Kremlin 2:07¾, the champion living brood mare sire of the world, have produced wonderful results. Through these channels came Baden 2:05¼, a trotting race horse that raced on both half-mile tracks and mile tracks and was badly handicapped in many of his races by being scored ten, twelve, fifteen, and as many as seventeen times before getting the word. This scoring was not all done by one driver or one horse, but by different drivers and different horses trying to break the horse’s heart repeatedly, and when they could not rupture his legs, unhinge his back, rattle his thinking box or break his heart, Mr. Geers and Mr. Cox, the great race drivers, said that Baden 2:05¼ was the greatest race horse ever seen. In all my experience with the produce of Bingara I have never seen one yet that wanted to pace if looked after in his early education. I know him to get trotters from pacing mares, and nothing but trotters from all kinds of mares, his power to transmit the trotting gait to his produce is something wonderful, and his only pacers are those that were forced by the unsportsmanlike use of hopples.

XXVII. NEGLECTED HIND FEET.

The hind feet on both trotters and pacers are the worst neglected when receiving their preparation in training and racing. Is your trotter or pacer going rough gaited with his hind legs? Is your trotter hitting his coronets, is he speedy cutting, is he hitting his shins or hocks? Is your pacer hitting his front shoes, or cross-firing? All this unbalanced action comes from an unbalanced, unprepared, and unweighted foot, most times—nearly nine out of ten—from cutting the outside of hind foot too low from center of toe back to outside heel leaving the inside the highest, which will control the line of action of the leg after the foot leaves the ground.

Lots of people do not know this and lots of horsemen do not know this until they get into trouble and commence experimenting with some fandangle shoes, long heels on one side and short heels on the opposite side, or some projection on some part of shoes that creates strain and friction trying to overcome a badly fixed foot or feet. If your trotter or pacer is doing any of the above stunts, the insides of his hind foot or feet are a lot too high for the outside. Cut the inside of hind feet down as low as they will stand, low enough to change the angle of the feet, to make the feet or angle longer to leave the ground from. If his toes are the right length do not touch them.

The best shoe for your trotter in this case is a sideweight shoe, a little heavier than he has been carrying—two or three ounces heavier. The best shoe for the pacer is a sideweight, same as above and it can be an ounce heavier than above, say four ounces heavier than he had been carrying. After your trotter or pacer becomes purer gaited you can dispense with this extra weight. Shoe light and as long as the foot or feet are kept level and at the right poise and angle you will not have any trouble. I do not recommend shoes with a long heel on one side and a short one on an opposite side on a correctly or properly fixed foot, or feet, for fast work or racing, because such shoes create undue friction at speed. When a hind leg is extended and foot or feet are properly fixed and balanced on the leg, both heels of the foot should strike the ground at the same time. If the heel on one side of shoe is three-quarter of an inch longer, or half inch longer, this long heel hits the ground first, before the opposite heel hits, which is unnatural and disagreeable to the bones of the feet, that work in sockets. It has the tendency to shift the bearing of the bones in their sockets on landing and leaving the ground, and gives extra work to the ligaments that hold the bones in their sockets. On slow-going horses this long outside heel does not affect them as severely as on horses that are working fast or racing. You must remember when horses are going at a fast pace they land on their heels as a rule with their toes elevated away from the ground. This is one of the main reasons why the heels of hind shoes should be the same length on both sides at speed or taking fast work. There are lots of horses that would have been faster and better race horses if their hind feet and action had been properly balanced to work harmoniously with one another. The speed of a horse depends largely on the propelling power of the hind quarters. The muscles of the thigh, stifle and whirlbone need looking after in their early preparation to keep the soreness out of them until they become hardened. Do not work your horse on a slippery track, wait a day or you may be sorry, if he is not eating skip a workout, it will suit the horse.

XXVIII. KNEE ACTION WITHOUT EXTENSION.

Many horses have plenty of knee action and no extension. This horse is carrying weight enough, and foot is prepared to make him knee up, but is unbalanced both by the weight application and foot fixing to develop the proper extension. The feet of a horse gaited in this manner need the quarters and heels of front feet lowered as low as safety will permit, do not touch the toes of front feet, place the front feet at as long an angle to leave the ground from as possible, reduce the weight of the front shoes and add it to the feet in a toe weight, and pull his head down some if you have to use a standing martingale and let him come along gradually.