VII. SHIN HITTING OF THE HIND LEGS.
There are different causes for this trouble. In the trotter it is because the hind action and the front action do not work in harmony with one another. Excessive hind action will cause it, or excessive front action in some cases will cause it. A front foot that is highest or longest on the outside toe will cause it. What will cause it the quickest and more severely is a high inside on the hind foot, especially on a horse that has been going open gaited behind. If your horse has plenty of action in front and is going in a medium light shoe I would advise you to level his hind feet; be sure and do not have the inside of hind feet the highest (which is nearly always the case), but if anything have it a shade the lowest, and shoe the hind feet with an outside weight shoe several ounces heavier than he has been carrying; this will widen his hind action and when he gets to going the weight will keep him outside and clear. This weight can be decreased as his gait is being perfected. The most particular part of this will be to get his feet properly prepared to help the line of action.
Perhaps your horse is short in his front action, low and dwelling gaited, too much so for his hind action, if so, shoe him in front with heavier shoe, say 5 ounce heavier or even more as the case may need, bevel or roll the toe, also bevel the outside edge from the outside toe to heel of front shoes where the shin hitting is done. If your horse wings in towards his knees or arms, the inside of front feet should be left the highest. I prefer in shoeing such horses to keep them going as close in line as possible with hind legs and if he cannot, without interference, then they will have to go outside (see article on how to widen hind action).
VIII. KNEE AND ARM HITTING.
This has been a great worry to “the smart set,” “the know it alls” for many years, as to what causes it, and what to do to help or prevent it. Winging in is caused sometimes by a deformity, or by contracted muscles or ligaments stronger on one side of the leg than on the other; sometimes deformed feet, or a badly contracted inside quarter will be the cause of some of this trouble, because the weight of the horse at the ankle drops over the inside heel instead of coming down in the middle of the foot. A contracted inside quarter and a high or long outside toe are dangerous weapons for a horse to be carrying, one of these at a time is bad enough, but when a foot is troubled with both it is very bad. If your knee or arm hitter has a contracted quarter on a front foot, the first thing to do is to get a hoof expander and expand the contracted quarter. This will be an important step towards getting the leg in the middle of the foot. In all my experience with knee and arm hitters I have found the offending foot too high on the outside, with the most of the foot from the center of the frog on the outside of the leg. With height and width of foot on the outside of the leg, it is just contrary to science. To straighten the line of action this needs to be reversed; edge up the outside edge of the foot from the outside toe to the point at quarters as much as it will stand, do it at every shoeing and you will be getting the leg closer to the middle of the foot. If you can get a little more of the foot on the inside of the leg than is on the outside, it will be a benefit to a bad knee and arm hitter. Another thing, the shorter the toe or angle of a knee hitter the easier he can leave the ground and the less he will wing in, and the lighter will be the blow if he hits. The knee hitter should be shod as lightly as he will go at speed, balanced. The lighter the weight he is carrying the lighter the blow if he strikes. The best kind of a shoe for a knee hitter is a side weight shoe with the heavy side on the inside of the foot; good results are obtained with heel and toe calks, the toe calks well set back on the toe of the shoe.
These calks on the shoe of a knee and arm hitter should be a little thin so as to catch hold of the ground as the foot goes to twist before he picks it up; they will prevent a certain amount of twisting while the body of the animal is gliding over the weight-bearing portion of the leg as the foot leaves the ground. They will have a tendency to make him break over squarer and not so hard on the outside toe as the foot is leaving the ground. Now if your knee hitter wears a toe weight attach it towards the inside toe as far as possible but not far enough to the inside so as he will strike the opposite leg with it. When the feet of a knee hitter have been gotten in the shape as described herein and shod accordingly; why, the horse will think that he has been baptized and born over again. A perfect foot is rare, but with good judgment, a good eye and a little patience and perseverance a lot can be accomplished that will surprise some of those that think they know it all. In a knee hitter, also in an arm hitter, the bones of the foot and leg do not work true in their sockets, clear up to the knee, even the joint at the knee does not work true, the knee joint has a faulty motion, instead of breaking straight forward, it breaks out sideways as the rest of the leg starts to wing in. By building the foot mostly to the inside of the leg and having width and height of foot on the inside you are taking some of the power away that causes the winging in, and the breaking outward of the knee. It is something strange, but I have known knee and shin and arm hitters to be turned out with their shoes on in paddocks, and you would seldom see them hurt themselves, but put the harness on, hitch them up, and start them at speed and take a pull of 75 or 100 pounds on their lower jaw and the trouble would begin. The directions in this article for fixing the foot for knee and arm hitting are also the surest remedy for horses that toe out badly, a fault that is so objectionable to all horsemen. If you use a sideweight shoe on a front foot to prevent shin, knee and arm hitting, the heavy part of shoe should be on the inside of foot, but if you leave the outside of the foot one-sixteenth or one-eighth of an inch higher than the inside, you will be working against the results you are looking for.
It looks strange to many people that an outside weight shoe to a front foot has a tendency to make a horse wing in, and the same shoe applied to a hind foot will widen the hind action, with the foot fixed for that purpose. If you can fix the foot properly to control the line of action that you want, you will surely accomplish something. You should know what angle suits the action best. The foot should be symmetrical in shape to conform with the coffin bone, have no more foot on one side of the frog than on the other side, and the bearing surface to hang so as the foot will land on and leave the ground as square or level as possible.
IX. JOGGING A KNEE KNOCKER WINTER AND SPRING, AND THE BEST WAY TO SHOE AND FIX THE FOOT TO DEVELOP THE MUSCLES.
Lower the outside of the foot of the winging in leg, and keep it the lowest. Shoe the foot with a very light shoe, plain or bar shoe, have a side pocket weight made that will carry from 6 to 9 ounces of lead with a spur on it; cut or burn a hole in the bottom edge of the foot midway between toe and heel for the spur, buckle it tight to foot, the weight to be on inside of foot. If the horse wings in with both front feet use the pocket weights on both feet and fix both feet as directed above. This will have a wonderful effect in developing muscle while taking his slow work that will help to prevent winging in so bad when he begins faster work. This knee knocker should be shod with a side weight shoe, the heft of weight on inside of foot, shoe should be very light on outside. This shoe should be made thick on inside with a bevel thinned towards the outside toe, a difficult shoe to make to be used when pocket weights are discarded for fast work.