Importance of Plating: Much Foot Trouble Among Horses Traceable to Poor Plates, Daily Racing Form, 1922-07-02

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IMPORTANCE OF PLATING Much Foot Trouble Among Horses Traceable to Poor Plates. Cakill Plate Assures Frog Pressure and Affords Every Protection for the Foot. i "No frog, no foot! No foot, no horse!" This is an adage as old as the domestical tion of horses. It applies to the big, honest Percheron, which earns his way by toil, just as much as it docs to the thoroughbred, tho aristocrat of them all, which strives for hl3 honors on the race courses. Unfortunately the horses foot ha3 never been given its full measure of attention, but the American "plater," as the shoer of the thoroughbred is called, has advanced further in the science of properly shoeing, or plating, a horse than those of any other country. When there was an American invasion of England, what stood out, and what is best remembered, was the phenomenal success of Tod Sloan in the saddle. It was little short of phenomenal, but at the same time tho American trainers were showing new wrinkles in the plating of tho horses and tho saddling of them for races. These are two arts that cannot be overestimated in racing and, unfortunately, with the free and easy manner in which licenses to train are issued, many a man enjoys a license that really does not know how to properly saddle a horse, while few indeed know anything of plating. It is not meant by this that a trainer should be able to pas3 an examination as a plater. But he should have a full appreciation of the necessity for the proper care of the feet and he should at least know how to saddle a horse. TRAJ2TERS STTTDETSTS OP PLATTHG. With the trainer of experience and ability there is nothing of more importance than tlie plating of his horses. It i3 the plating that will bring about, or correct, foot trouble and it gets back to the old adage. Some of the most successful of American trainers of the old school would not have to wait for the plater to arrive if they wanted to make a quick change in the equipment of their horses, and there were none of them who did not make a close study of the trado to know just what their horses needed in tho way of plates. One of the best platers of this or any other country ia William CahilL and to his improvement in tlie plating of the race horso many a trainer owes not a little of his success. And though Cahill learned his trade long ago, he is still intelligently, from time to time, putting forth new ideas for the comfort of the thoroughbred horses feet and tlie consequent bettering of him as a racing tool. The frog is tlie life of the foot and too many trainers do not realize that nature Intended that there must be a certain amount of frog pressure to keep it in a healthy condition. Without this pressure the frog will become withered and dry and in consequence there is no frog and no foot One of the latest of the Cahill inventions, in the way of a racing plat! and he has had many is ono that assures this frog pressure and at the same time affords every protection to the foot. It is a plate that is not nailed all the way to the heels. In this fashion it makes possible the natural expansion of the foot at every stride and at the same time tlie plate is thoroughly securo on the , foot. Then in addition to tlie elimination of the heel nails the plate has a small toe clip, such as is found on heavy shoes for tlie work horses. This prevents any slipping back of t the plate as a horse gallops, a The perfectly smooth plate has a tendency I to slip that is absolutely corrected by this p toe clip, and tlie fact that there are no heel a nails makes it just as comfortable as though . barefooted. As Cahill puts it, "The plato is a just as comfortable as an old slipper." Such a plate could not fail to benefit a t horso with contracted heels. A horse so af-f flicted, if he has a plate that is nailed all e the way back to the heel, has his foot in a vise that will never allow of the natural expansion that would correct the evil. Thrcff-rt quarter plates are used for this, and for ; quarter cracks, but they do not offer the foot protection that comes with a full plate, and the full plate is possible and desirable with - both ailments, r to o DAJTGEU OE IJUHY EXETZNATEI e Then the wall of the foot at the heel is the thinnest and weakest part of the a horn and it is there that horses are "pricked" 3 in plating. Sometimes this causes a trouble-n some lameness. This danger is done away d with in the Cahill plate. Altogether it is ,- a racing plate that seems to be a very r. decided step forward in the proper care of p the horses foot. 3, Several trainers have realized the advan-ir tages of such a plate and Cahill has not as .s a few horses that are racing in his slippers, y Exterminator wears the plates this season he e and he is better than he ever was before. Of course Exterminator has legs of S iron and perfect feet, but Cahill insists, and a. with good reason, that tlie old fellow is r, bound to be more comfortable in his pres-le ent plating. m Sunference, the Kilmer two-year-old that in n won the Hudson Stakes from a fast field n Saturday, is another with the same plates, d and there are several others so equipped that are now racing, i- Plater Cahill can mako these platt-s just we re as light as any other plates in use, and in h fact he was the originator of the aluminum on m plato and the aluminum foot pad that has m Icen used with such success by many traln-jt era. Ho has made the foot of tho horso the ce study of a lifetime and he has achieved re-3, suits. This latest invention is, to say tho :k least, ono that the horso will thank him for on account of tho comfort that is bound to in como with a plato that amply and securely ;d protects tho foot and at the same tlmo iy affords every chance for tho expansion that is necessary for the frog pressure and the consequent health of tho foot.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1922070201/drf1922070201_13_3
Local Identifier: drf1922070201_13_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800