XIV. PADDLING.
Just the reverse to winging in, a tiresome lost motion, a source of worry to horse and driver, especially if the horse has speed and is driven on sharp turns on half-mile tracks, but it is not as dangerous as the winging in hard to knees. Paddling is more easily controlled than winging in. Now to straighten the paddler, fix the foot on the leg that paddles, by cutting or rasping the inside of the foot from the inside toe back to the inside heel as low as possible, leaving the outside toe the highest or longest to leave the ground from. Be sure and have the inside of foot the lowest, the outside toe the longest. To begin this an angle close to 50 degrees or less, say 49, will have wonderful effect. The long or high toe on the outside will have a tendency to make the leg wing towards his knees at speed which is the controlling influence against paddling. The long or high outside toe is the part that has to leave the ground the last, which creates winging, and helps to stop paddling. To shoe a paddler, shoe with a light shoe, with as little weight as possible to go balanced. The more weight the more he will paddle, the less weight the less paddle.
The best shoe for a bad paddler is a sideweight shoe extra heavy on the outside of foot, bevel the outside edges of front shoes good. If the change of action is not quick enough you can use a toe weight placed on the foot well to the outside toe of foot. When I could not get the inside of foot low enough compared with the outside of foot I have made the front shoes thicker on the outside than the inside. When you have fixed the feet and shod a paddler this way you will begin to think that paddling can be stopped when at speed. Most paddlers must go as light in front as possible. With the feet fixed and shod as herein stated you will be surprised at the change of action that will take place when at speed, after a week’s driving. The faster the paddler is driven the less paddling he will be doing. The outside of the foot on a paddler needs to be kept the highest, which is just to the reverse of a knee and arm hitter, this applies to the front feet and action of the front legs.