Balancing and Shoeing Trotting and Pacing Horses

by William J. Moore

This is a very annoying fault and the same rules to remedy it do not apply to all horses, for what will stop one may not stop another. Most all forging will be done jogging, or going an ordinary road gait. From forging comes the scalping which is very dangerous when the horse begins to brush along, as scalping creates rough and bad gaited horses. There are many horses that will forge or scalp going slow in the same shoes that suit them for speed. It is hard to shoe all horses with a set of shoes that will suit the horse, the driver and a faulty gait at varying rates of speed, all at the same time. Horses that are low gaited in front that forge jogging, need as a rule, a lot more weight in their front shoes. Horses that go high gaited with lots of knee action in front that forge require a light shoe. Forgers usually have excessive action either in front or behind. Locate the faulty end, see if the horse has too much action in front and not enough behind, or if he has too much behind and not enough in front. Get a line on his gait before you make any changes, perhaps you may not have to change but one end of him to either increase or decrease action. Weight in the shoe is the important factor applied to a perfectly balanced foot, whether it is a front foot or a hind foot. You can add weight to the front or hind feet, as may be desired, to increase action, or decrease the weight to decrease the action at either end. Now right here I will say, a horse jogging hardly feels a change of weight of one, two or three ounces, but will show the effect of five or six ounces from the start. Do not be afraid to apply a heavy shoe to hind feet for if his action requires it to prevent forging, the horse will like it better and so will you.

In adding weight to hind feet you will be increasing the hock action and in some horses it will take considerable weight to do it; horses going an ordinary road gait will not feel one, two or three ounces increase of weight in hind shoes. Horses stepping fast as a rule do not do any forging and, of course, the lighter they can go the better. There are many horses—fast trotters—that forge or scalp jogging, that would go cleaner or purer by applying a four-ounce toe weight, some may need a five-ounce weight, lots of them have to be jogged too fast in order to prevent forging or scalping, when perhaps a toe weight would be the remedy. A horse going a 2:10 gait will feel the effects of a one or two ounce weight as much as one going a slow gait would feel the effects of four or five ounces.

Take a side view of your horse as he is driven by and locate the faulty action, you will be able to tell if it is too short, too long, too high or too low, too rapid or too dwelly, front or hind action. If the lost action is in front as to height, extension or rapidity, fix the feet to help the shoes to perfect the action. If the front action is too low shorten the toes, leave the heels high or raise them with shoe or side calks and shoe with a shoe five or six ounces heavier, more or less, as the action requires, use a square or bevel toe shoe. A rolling toe shoe is good on slow-going horses, the horse should carry his head higher than usual. If the front action is too high, lower the quarters and heels as low as they will stand, and shoe with a light shoe, and if there is not extension enough use a toe weight to balance up action, the horse should carry his head lower, or natural. If the hind action is too low shorten toes as much as they will stand and add several ounces more weight and raise the heels a half inch or more. If hind action is too high lower quarters and heels as low as they will stand, keeping plenty of toe on hind feet and shoe with a very light shoe to prevent slipping. If he is handling his hind legs too rapid for the front ones, this last sentence will remedy that also. I have seen obstinate forgers at a slow gait stopped by carrying from two to three times more weight on the hind feet than in the front feet, and vice versa, according to their front or hind action.

XVIII. SCALPING.

This is a very dangerous fault. When a horse is making speed and begins scalping, he is unbalanced quite bad, he needs changing before being speeded again for if you don’t he or she will get rough gaited, or will begin carrying the hind leg between front ones, hopping, or trying to run with hind action. The first thing to do is to examine the hind feet, you are likely to find the hind feet a lot higher on the inside than on the outside nine times out of ten. Some horses will begin scalping after their feet get too long. In horses with excessive action, carrying too much weight in front will cause scalping at speed. Horses with very little action in front and not carrying weight enough will be liable to scalp at speed. When shoeing for scalping use a square toe shoe, light or heavy, as may be required by the front action.

Feet all out of proportion and at the wrong angle and not level will cause scalping. Now if the animal has very little hock action and mostly stifle action, I would lower and shorten the toes of the hind feet as much as possible, use a square toe shoe and raise the heels with a side calk, this will shorten the stride and by adding some weight to the hind shoe it will increase hock action. Most all scalping is done with front or outside toe of the front shoe coming in contact with the coronet of hind foot. It hurts the horse so much that he will try to find some way to avoid it; some trainers use a gaiting pole to prevent the horse from going crooked in the shafts because of this fault.

XIX. REMEDY FOR SCALPING.

If the front action is low, long and of a sluggish nature, shorten the toes of feet considerable and add about five ounces more weight to the shoes, or more, if required to create a more lofty knee fold. The action of some horses requires a lot more weight than others to make the change. The shoes to be used, if working to make speed should be a square toe shoe, or a beveled toe shoe, also a wedged shaped shoe thick at the heels and thin at the toe is good, squared at the toe. For ordinary road driving a rolling toe shoe is good, but not for extreme speed, as it has a tendency with most horses to slip back too much on leaving the ground; and the horse should be made to carry his head higher than usual. If the front action is high, short, or too rapid, not working in harmony with the hind, lower the quarters and heels of front feet as much as they will stand and keep a fair length toe on the front feet and shoe with a very light shoe and use a toe weight to balance for extension, place a spur for toe weight well up on toe of foot out of way of the scalping; and the horse should be made to go as low headed as is comfortable to him.

If the hind action is low, long or of a dwelling nature, shorten the toes as much as they will stand, and shoe, to elevate the heels, with a thick heel shoe, or raise the heels with side calks. A few ounces more weight than he has been carrying will be all the better to make him use his hocks more. If the hind action is high and choppy with not much extension, lower quarters and heels as much as they will stand and keep a fair length toe on him, it will keep him closer to the ground; and shoe light to prevent slipping.

A side view of the animal as he is driven by you will give you the correct view of his front and hind action. If the action is too short, too long, too high or too low, in front or behind, the chances are you may not have to change but one end of him if you have a good eye for locating faulty action. If your horse is good and can beat his record, or go the race of his life, and scalps jogging, try a toe weight on him in front, if it does not stop him wear scalpers on him jogging and let well enough alone.