The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-08-05
aiscellaucnl,s.
Robert Bonner on Raising Colts
and Shoeing Horses.

Trotting is artificial action, and
colts must be educated to it SO that
they will know nothing but trot. Be
| gin early and go ON gradually. / do
not believe in very hard work for the
young ones, but taught their work
they will trot better and squarer.
The people who buy now want speed,
and no matter what you may say, the
watch, after all, is what you go by.
| The prices of the best trotting stock
are going up constantly, while the
culls are going lower.
There is another thing in raising
| trotters that many forget, and that is
| feeding. | believe in feeding the dam
heavily, and the growth of the foal
will show it. | tried an experiment
with Westminster, the full brother of
Majolica. Majolica, as you know, was
a small horse, and when Westchester
was foaled III April, 1881, began feed
ing Jessie Kirk, his dam, who was the
! dam of Majolica, both by Startle, as
much as he could eat while she was
on good pasture. How that colt did
grow! He continued to grow, until
| he is as you see, 164 hands high.
would not feed SO heavy again, but it
was an experiment that | did it to
satisfy myself of the benefits of good
| feed
The mornings on the farm are busy
| times with exercising the stations and
| young ones. After exercise they are
| blanketed and cooled Off In the az
! ternoon every horse on the place is
! thoroughly brushed and cleaned until
| their coats shine like satin. Mr.. Bon
! ner has made the horses foot his study
/ for many years, to such good purpose
| that not one of the 101 horses on the
| farm has single SPAWN, ring bone,
! windgall, or any other defect of the
feet or legs. Mr. Bonner's theory is
that if the foot is perfectly balanced
so that the bones work in their proper
places, that there can be no such
| things as spavins, splints, etc. He
| has maintained for years that there
! was no such thing as navicular dis
ease, and he has converted all the
| great drivers and trainers to his way
| of thinking. Marvin has repeatedly
said that j; he had known what he
| knows now about the horses foot, the
record would have been different
| SunOl was lame, although Senator
Stanford did not know it, when Mr..
Bonner bought her. Marvin shod her
according to Mr.. Bonner's orders, and
she then made her great mile. None OF
| Mr.. Boomers horses ever suffer from
lameness, and most of them have low
cred their records while owned by
him, as by balancing the foot he gave
them the greatest amount of elasticity
with the least possible friction. Nat
uralIy, under such conditions, the
blacksmithshop is one of the most in
teresting places ON the farm. Mr..
Bohner's favorite place is in this shop
just down the hill from the barn.
Take that colt down to the shop
said Mr.. Bonner to a groom, land we
will take the shoe off. He is lame in
the same foot, the hind one, that Maud
S. was troubled with when | got her
She would never have been able to
make her present record if I had not
levelled her foot so that there was nc
strain Oh the ligaments of the foot
The way that blacksmiths are permit
ted to ruin the feet of valuable horses
is Il constant marvel TO me The same
kind of shoe is frequently put on q
trotter that goes on the cart horse
heels and all, with no more regard t6
the welfare of the horses feet auC
legs than # they were made of iron
The sEoeing of D. horse is n delicate
business, for the he rse's foot is a mar
vellous piece of mechanism. Eacl
part has Il certain strain to bear in its
proper position, and if any one OF
these parts is thrown out of balance
lamencss soon follows. A man who
undertakes to shoe horses should
know something of the structure o
the horses foot. What would yor
think of n man trying to run an engine
who did not know What the water
gauge was for? Blacksmiths will al
ways remain as ignorant as they are
to-day until the owners Of horses de
mand that they know what they ar,
doing when they pick up q horse
foot.
As an instance of the bad effects o
poor shoeing, SPAWN and ring-bont
are generally considered hereditary
There is not a word of truth in it
Both of these diseases come from tn,
form of the hoofn
but. Mr.. Bonner, would you breet
TO a spawned stallion - l asked
somewhat staggered by such radica
views.
Just as soon as if he had cleal
limbs, if he were otherwise sound,
replied Mr.. Bonner, in most emphat
ic tone "Spavin, even what is know
as DOS-SpaNlll OF DlOOu-SpdNlll, lllNdri
= ably comes from too much toe. TIL
bones of the horses foot are made t.
5 fit Just like this Sinking the knuck
g lie of one hand into the sunken plac
between two knuckles of the other.
: 1.-THE coronary bone rests partly Oh
the foot bone, sometimes called tn
- coffin bone, and partly on the nut o
, navicular bone This navicular bon
is placed between the fieXor tendo
and the other bones to remov
the insertion of tho tendon furthe
). from the centre of motion, having
polished surface both toward the ter
don and toward the bones. Now upo
d the free play of this fiexor tendon dt
), ponds that spring to the foot so nece:
!, sary to the eXertions of the horse |
r great exertions the coronary bone
pressed suddenly and violently on tn
= navicular bone, and the lower projec
ing part of the navicular bone presse
and slides on tn. foot bone at tn
J., same time that the posterior surfac
of it slides OH the fieXor tendon. TIL
coronary bone is connected to the foe
n bone by two ligaments, while the n;