L. ANKLE HITTING OR INTERFERING.
There are so many different causes for this that there is no fixed rule in shoeing that will apply to all cases. I have seen horses cutting their hind ankles from the following causes: the foot or feet too high on the inside, the foot or feet too high on the outside, the foot or feet too long at the toe, and too low at the heels, all out of proportion as to the correct angle. Horses that are weak, low in flesh, and worked beyond their physical capacity, when not able to perform their daily task without getting leg weary, conformation of some horses makes them brush, box, or cut their hind ankles.
The conformation that makes a very bad ankle hitter is one where the horse stands wedge shaped from his hips down to where his feet rest on the ground. This kind of a horse will stand with his hind feet close together or against one another when at rest, horses of this conformation and without much hock action are the very worst in this respect. The same treatment will not apply to all cases of ankle hitting. Unbalanced feet are the main cause for all ankle hitting, when not caused by some deformity. A farrier with a good eye and good judgment, on examination of the hind feet, will find out the main cause of the trouble. Keep the toes of all ankle hitters as short as possible for the shorter the leverage to break over and leave the ground from, the straighter the line of action of the leg will be; a middling high heel, and a very short toe is the best. If the foot or feet are too high on the inside, lower the insides to a level with the outside, and shoe with a heel calk, hot rasp the inside of shoes to a bevel. If you find the foot or feet too high on the outside lower the outside to a level with the inside, if either foot is winged out, wider on one side of the leg than the other, edge the foot up until you have an equal portion of the foot on both sides of the frog measuring from the center of the frog. This rule applies to all feet in foot fixing. Shoe the same as above stated.
I have seen horses cutting their ankles very bad on account of their heels being too low, and their toes too long. I have stopped this kind of ankle cutting by raising their heels with a side heelcalk seven-eighths of an inch high and no toe calk. An ankle cutter, on account of the inside of feet being too low, and where I could not cut the outside of foot low enough to compare with the inside, I have got good results by welding a calk along the inside of the hind shoe or shoes between the first and third inside nails to make up the deficiency. A horse that boxes his ankles jogging sluggishly will go good in short toes, with a square toe shoe and heel calks.
A horse that cuts his ankles should not be checked too high but should go in a natural manner without being made to carry his head too high. The hold-back straps should never be too tight for this hugs their quarters together and that creates interfering. A horse that is a hard puller on the lines, when hitched to a light vehicle has a tendency to box his ankles on account of the hold-back straps hugging his quarters together.
IN CONCLUSION.
If you have carefully read thus far you may feel conscious that I have repeated and reiterated again and again certain things in relation to “fixing feet”. If I have done this more than to you seems necessary, it is because of the importance of the things repeated, and because of my desire to impress my readers with their importance.
If you find herein anything that you are specially interested in, that to you may seem cloudy or involved, and not clear, I will be pleased to clarify and elucidate any point by correspondence.
My life study and work has been in connection with the thing about which I have herein written. I have been always, and am now, intensely and vitally interested in this subject, and my reason for putting my ideas into print is because of my extreme interest in the trotting and pacing race horse, and also because of a hope that by widening, and extending to others, the horizon of my experiences, by the means of a printed book, I may help many a sore horse, as well as many a discouraged trainer and driver and owner.
WILLIAM J. MOORE,