XLII. KEEP THE FEET LEVEL.
The front foot should never be the highest on the outside of a trotter or pacer, unless the horse paddles with one or both front legs. A foot that is left high on the outside and low on the inside will help to prevent paddling and will increase the winging in to the knees. A foot that is kept high on the inside and low on the outside will help to prevent winging in to the knees. There are lots of paddlers who do not begin to paddle until the foot has left the ground quite some distance, and to prove this I have seen the shoes worn by some paddlers and the most of the wear on the shoes of the paddling leg or legs was at the outside toe of shoe. A paddler that leaves the ground from the inside toe of shoe can be made to carry the leg straighter in a line at speed easier than one that leaves the ground from the outside toe.
The reason why a front foot should not be left highest on the outside, of a trotter or pacer, unless he is a paddler, is this; supposing the front legs at the chest or where the upper arm joint is connected with the chest is ten, twelve or fifteen inches apart, I mean the distance the two front legs are from one another where connected with the body. Now when this horse is at speed and can go fast at the trot or pace, like most all fast horses at speed, his foot prints will be straight in a line one after the other on the track. Now if their upper arms are ten or twelve inches apart, more or less, and at speed their feet land nearly on a line, the front legs are not working forward and backward in a straight up and down line from the body, so this being the case just try to imagine just how those two front feet land on the ground with the legs wide apart at the upper arms and the feet landing straight in a line or nearly so at speed. The question is, should the outside of front foot be lower than the inside, if so, how much, to distribute and equalize the concussion on both sides of a front foot at the heels when at speed. What I am trying to explain is, if you have a fast trotter or pacer and he does not paddle, and you are working to develop speed intending to race, and if the outside of the front feet are the highest and the inside of the hind feet are the highest, every time you work this horse with unbalanced feet you are guilty of one of the greatest crimes that are committed by trainers and horse-shoers.
In fixing the front feet on all fast horses, trotters or pacers, that do not paddle, first rasp the outside of a front foot down to where you want it, toe and heel, then you can rasp the inside of the foot down to where it will suit the action of the leg the best. The reason for this is you can always lower the inside of a front foot a lot lower than you can the outside of same foot and when you rasp the inside of a front foot down first, nine times out of ten you will not be able to rasp the outside of the same foot down to a level with the inside. Now the hind foot is just to the reverse. Always rasp to lower the inside of a hind foot down first to where you want it and then take the outside down to a level with it. If you do not fix feet by this rule, the sensitive portion of the foot will often prevent you from lowering it enough to level up matters with opposite side, and the sensitive parts of the foot that will prevent you from doing this will be the outside of a front foot and the inside of a hind foot. This is the main reason why so many floormen in shops all over the country cut the inside of front feet too low for the outside, and leave the inside of the hind feet too high for the outside of same. But if you will fix feet by this rule you will be right the most of the time.