I was approached on this subject and had it explained to me that a certain horse going the right way of the track at speed would go on one line and keep going into the fence or hugging the pole, and would make two or three breaks going the length of the stretch on a half-mile track, and could not be kept away from the fence. After an examination of the teeth, cheeks, and tongue, and bit, and finding these to be all O. K., I concluded that it must be from uneven extension of the legs. The extension and propelling power of the off legs was greater than that of the nigh ones. A three-ounce toe weight on the feet of the nigh legs straightened or balanced up the lost action of the nigh side so that the horse would speed the length of the stretch in any position on the track without pulling on one line and so the necessity for pulling on one line to keep the horse straight was stopped.
The feet on this animal were well fixed hind and front, as to length of toes and angle of feet, the hind shoes weighed alike and the front ones also. The muscular development of the extension power of the off legs was stronger than that of the nigh legs, perhaps also the propelling power of the off hind leg. This is the reason the horse was pulling on one line. The off legs were reaching farther than the nigh ones, which kept forcing the horse to go towards the fence. Unbalanced feet will cause this as well as undeveloped muscles. I have no doubt but there are lots of horses going on one line and hugging the pole that need a change in the angle of the feet, or the proper weight at the proper place to balance up matters. If the strides of this horse had been measured there would have been found a big difference between the off and nigh strides, so you see it is not always the teeth, cheeks, or bit that cause this trouble. The horse in question later stepped miles in 2:09.
XLIV. A GOOD JUDGE OF GAIT.
In all my experience with horsemen and horses I believe William Russell Allen’s judgment about gait and prospective or ultimate speed is superior to that of any one I have ever come in contact with. He seems to have the faculty of knowing at a glance the frictionless gait from a fairly good gaited one. To prove this I will cite a few instances. On one occasion he was away on a visit and on his return he said to me that he saw Uhlan 1:58 as a two-year-old or a three-year-old, I do not remember exactly, but it was before he came into prominence, and Mr. Allen told me he was the best gaited colt he ever saw. This colt must have been just as he said, for it could not have been over a year, or two at the outside, when this same colt trotted to a world’s record, and it did not surprise me much after remembering what Mr. Allen told me about his gait. The same thing happened again when he saw Peter Volo 2:02, early in his two-year-old form. Also the full sister to Peter Volo, Volga, Mr. Allen told me she was gaited to win all her engagements.
Here at Allen Farm he picked a yearling out of about thirty early in the season, that was out of a non-producing dam, to beat all the yearlings an eighth of a mile at the trot that season at the farm on a small bet. It was big odds and was taken very quickly by one of the employees, who was wishing he could get more of that kind of bets. When the brush work of the season was over the field ticket was never presented to the pool seller to be cashed. Mr. Allen’s first choice out of a large field won by a quarter of a second and we had a lot of fast ones, but any how he had the laugh on me at the finish.
XLV. BAR SHOES.
If you have a horse with toe cracks, quarter cracks or one that is sore or lame from corns, a bar shoe is the best kind of a shoe. If you have a horse with a dropped sole, or founder footed horse the bar shoe is the best kind for such feet. It is also a good shoe to be used on feet where expanders are used as the bar in the shoe will protect the expander at times when an open shoe will not, and frog pressure on the bar will also help to get expansion. The most important thing to guard against is, do not drive any nails back of the quarters because that will prevent expansion. Draft horses with wide low heels or thin soles require bar shoes for the hard roads, as they stay sound longer wearing bar shoes than in open shoes. For racing purposes the bar shoe is very important for the front feet, and occasionally for the hind feet, for both trotter and pacer. Any horse racing or in training that carries a light, or very light front shoe should by all means wear a bar shoe, it is a great support to the foot when hitting the ground hard and fast, as the natural expansion and contraction is at its limit while going at a fast rate of speed.
For a heel weight shoe you can get more weight in the heels of a bar shoe than in an open shoe, which heel weight the action of some horses requires more so than they do toe weight. A trotter or pacer that spreads his hind shoes or front shoes, should by all means wear bar shoes. The last time I shod John R. Gentry for Mr. James Ramey, I shod him with bar shoes all around with heel and toe calks for that memorable race at Detroit in the 2:13 or 2:14 class, he won his race easily breaking the track record, under strong restraint. He could have paced a very fast mile or two that day if he had been asked to do it, he was sold after this performance.
I have never seen many yearlings or two-year-olds that needed a bar shoe while in training. It is a very bad shoe for either yearling or two-year-old unless a hoof expander is kept in the foot to prevent contraction and help expansion, for the feet will surely get contracted without something to prevent it, after the heels grow high enough to lose their frog pressure. I used a pair of heavy heel weight bar shoes, about ten or eleven ounce, on one yearling’s hind feet to stop forging and scalping while he was being jogged every day. The shoes he was brushed or speeded in for about ten days did not suit him for jogging. This yearling trotted eighths in 17¼ seconds, a 2:18 gait. I tried more weight in front but it did no good.