A horse that hits the right elbow with the left foot and the left elbow with the right foot is seldom seen. The horse Hunter Hill would begin doing this when going at a 2:40 gait or better, and would act bad and unsteady. He was brought to me to shoe and I was told he could not carry any weight. As he had not enough foot to change, I told the trainer he would have to carry weight to counteract the faulty winging in to the elbows. I made a pair of eighteen ounce heavy side weight shoes with the weight on the inside of each front shoe, thin heel and toe calks, toe calks well set back on toe of front shoes. These shoes took him away from his elbows and he raced good over the half-mile tracks stepping miles around 2:12. After he got gaited these sideweight shoes were discarded for plain lighter shoes.
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.
XV. HOW TO MAKE A SHOE TO PREVENT PADDLING.
Take a piece of iron or steel two or three ounces heavier than the shoe the horse has been carrying and draw one end of it very light having it quite thin. Make a heavy outside weight shoe of it, leaving all the thickness at the outside toe of shoe, thin the outside heel down to the same as the inside heel. The outside edge of this shoe will be thick, but tapering thin to the inside edge of the outside web of shoe. This shoe begins to get light, narrow and very thin at centre of toe around to inside heel. Look up article on foot fixing to prevent paddling at speed when using this shoe. The horse’s foot will have to leave the ground from the outside toe of this shoe when stepping fast and this will have a tendency to make him wing in, and the line of action will become straighter as the animal becomes accustomed to it. This change can be quite radical, on a horse that has been paddling a long time, and not so rank on young stock just beginning to get gaited. This shoe does not stop the paddling on all animals when jogging slow as the foot can leave the ground or break over from center or inside toe of shoe, which has no control to prevent a slight paddle.
XVI. HITCHING, HOPPING OR RUNNING BEHIND.
This way of going comes from different causes. An unbalanced foot from being improperly fixed, will cause it. The improper weight of shoes at one end or the other, or all around, will cause it; speeding a colt or horse that is pulling too much weight, especially up a grade, will cause it; forging, scalping, speedy cutting, shin and hock hitting will cause it; carrying the head to one side at times will cause it; soreness of the back, rump or muscles of whirlbone, stifle or thigh will cause it.
Examine the faulty leg for soreness, for if the horse is not lame from soreness somewhere, he can be balanced to go true. If a horse begins hitching, his fast work should be stopped until he is properly balanced, for no horse can improve his speed after he becomes rough gaited without danger to himself. The first thing to do is to get him balanced. First, see that his feet are level. Nine times out of ten you will find his feet are not mates or do not hang level, you will find the foot on the offending leg that is doing the damage different from its mate. In all my experience I have found the foot on the faulty gaited leg to be very high on the inside, if not at the toe, it would be at the heel, but the majority of times it would be high from toe to heel, which would be the main cause of the hitching. Fix the front feet to hang level, the angle and length of toes the same. The two hind feet should be at the same angle and have the same length of toe. The foot of the faulty going leg should be made the lowest on the inside and the shoe to be used on this foot must weigh double the weight or from one to three ounces more than double the weight of the one on the opposite hind foot. This shoe can be made with the weight in the outside, with the inside edge from the centre of toe back to the inside quarter rounded or beveled off considerably, fit the shoe full to the outside toe. If the hitching horse is shod according to these directions and does not begin to go better gaited, it is because he is lame. If he carries five-ounce shoes behind put twelve or thirteen ounce on the faulty gaited leg and the light shoe on perfect gaited leg.